A HANDBOOK OF 

MODERN JAPAN 



m 



A HANDBOOK 
OF MODERN JAPAN 







PEREY MONUMENT, NEAE UEAGA 



A HANDBOOK 



OP 



MODERN JAPAN 

BY ■' 

ERNEST Wr CLEMENT 



WITH TWO NEW MAPS, MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THE 
BOOK, AND OVEK SIXTY ILLUSTBATIONS 
EKOM PHOTOGRAPHS 



THIRD EDITION 




CHICAGO 
A. C. McCLURa & CO. 

1904 






Copyright 

A, C. McClurg & Co. 

1903 



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. 



First Edition, October 10, 1903 
Second Edition, February 15, 1904 
Third Edition, March 25, 1904 



K 






UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 
AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



To THE Memory of my Father 



To MY Mother 



INTRODUCTION 



THIS book, as its title indicates, is intended 
to portray Japan as it is rather than as it 
was. It is not by any means the purpose, 
however, to ignore the past, upon which the present 
is built, because such a course would be both foolish 
and futile. Moreover, while there are probably no 
portions of Japan, and very few of her people, en- 
tirely unaffected by the new civilization, yet there 
are still some sections which are comparatively un- 
changed by the new ideas and ideals. And, although 
those who have been least affected by the changes are 
much more numerous than those who have been most 
influenced, yet the latter are much more active and 
powerful than the former. 

In Japan reforms generally work from the top down- 
ward, or rather from the government to the people. 
As another^ has expressed it, "the government is the 
moulder of pubhc opinion " ; and, to a large extent, 
at least, this is true. We must, therefore, estimate 
Japan's condition and public opinion, not according 
to the great mass of her people, but according to 
the "ruling class," if we may transfer to Modern 
Japan a term of Feudal Japan. For, as suffrage in 
Japan is limited by the amount of taxes paid, "the 

1 Miss Bacon, in " Japanese Girls and Women." 



viu INTRODUCTION 

masses " do not yet possess the franchise, and may be 
said to be practically unconcerned about the govern- 
ment. They will even endure heavy taxation and 
some injustice before they will bother themselves 
about politics. These real conservatives are, there- 
fore, a comparatively insignificant factor in the equa- 
tion of New Japan. The people are conservative, but 
the government is progressive. 

This book endeavors to portray Japan in all its 
features as a modern world power. It cannot be ex- 
pected to cover in great detail all the ground out- 
lined, because it is not intended to be an exhaustive 
encyclopaedia of "things Japanese." It is expected 
to satisfy the specialist, not by furnishing all mate- 
rials, but by referring for particulars to works where 
abundant materials may be found. It is expected to 
satisfy the average general reader, by giving a kind 
of bird's-eye view of Modern Japan. It is planned 
to be a compendium of condensed information, with 
careful references to the best sources of more com- 
plete knowledge. 

Therefore, a special and very important feature of 
the volume is its bibliography of reference books at the 
end of each chapter. These lists have been prepared 
with great care, and include practically all the best 
works on Japan in the English language. In general, 
however, no attempt has been made to cover magazine 
articles, which are included in only very particular 
instances. 

There are two very important works not included 
in any of the lists, because they belong to almost all ; 
they are omitted merely to avoid monotonous repe- 
tition. These two books of general reference are 



INTRODUCTION ix 

indispensable to the thorough student of Japan and 
the Japanese. Chamberlain's " Things Japanese " ^ 
is the most convenient for general reference, and is a 
small encyclopa3dia. "The Mikado's Empire,"^ by 
Dr. Griffis, is a thesaurus of information about Japan 
and the Japanese. 

After these, one may add to his Japanese library 
according to his special taste, although we think 
that Murray's " Story of Japan," also, should be in 
every one's hands. Then, if one can afford to get 
Rein's two exhaustive and thorough treatises, he is 
well equipped. And the " Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan " will make him quite a savant on 
Japanese subjects.^ 

We had intended, but finally abandoned the at- 
tempt, to follow strictly one system of transhteration. 
Such a course would require the correction of quota- 
tions, and seemed scarcely necessary. Indeed, the 
doctors still disagree, and have not yet positively 
settled upon a uniform method of transliteration. 
After all, there is no great difference between Tdkio 
and Toky5 ; kaisha and kwaisha ; lyeyasu and leyasu ; 
Kyushiu, Kiiishiu, Kyushii, and Kiushu. There is 
more divergency between Ryukyu, Riiikiu, Liukiu, 
Luchu, and Loo Choo ; but all are in such general use 
that it would be unwise, in a book hke this, to try to 
settle a question belonging to specialists. The fittest 
will, in time, survive. We have, however, drawn the 

1 Fourth edition. 2 Tenth edition. 

8 If any are inclined to delve still more deeply into any of these 
topics, they will find further references in the books in the lists, espe- 
cially in " Things Japanese." And the most complete treatment of 
this subject is found in Wenckstern's "Bibliography of Japan." 
Poole's Index is also valuable. 



X INTRODUCTION 

line on " Yeddo," " Jeddo," and similar archaisms and 
barbarisms, for which there is neither jot nor tittle of 
reason. But it is hoped that the varieties of trans- 
literation in this book are too few to confuse. 

The author is under special obligations to Professor 
J. H. Wigmore, formerly a teacher in Tokyo, and now 
Dean of the Northwestern Law School, Chicago, for 
kind criticisms and suggestions ; to Mr. Frederick W. 
Gookin, the art critic, of Chicago, for similar assist- 
ance, and for the chapter on "Esthetic Japan," which 
is entirely his composition; and also under general 
obligations for the varied assistance of many friends, 
too numerous to mention, in Japan and America. He 
has endeavored to be accurate, but doubts not that he 
has made mistakes. He only asks that the book be 
judged merely for what it claims to be, — a Hand- 
hook of Modern Japan. 

Ernest Wilson Clement. 

Chicago, August 1, 1903. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Physiography 1 

n. Industrial Japan 16 

m. Travel, Transportation, Commerce ... 29 

IV. People, Houses, Food, Dress 44 

V. Manners and Customs 60 

VI. Japanese Traits 76 

VII. History (Old Japan) 90 

VIII. History (New Japan) 102 

IX. Constitutional Imperialism 118 

X. Local Self-Government 133 

XI. Japan as a World Power 146 

XII. Legal Japan 159 

XIII. The New Woman in Japan 175 

XIV. Language and Literature 191 

XV. Education 209 

XVI. Esthetic Japan 222 

XVII. Disestablishment of Shinto 237 

XVIII. Confucianism, Bushido, Buddhism .... 250 

XIX. Japanese Christendom 261 

XX. Twentieth Century Japan 277 

XXI. The Mission of Japan 289 

APPENDIX 305 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Perry Monument, near Uraga Frontispiece 

Page 

Nagasaki Harbor 10 

Lighthouse Inland Sea 10 

Map of the Pacific 14 

Cotton Mills, Osaka 22 

Baron Shibusawa 38 

Nobles' Bank and Bank of Japan, Tokyo .... 40 

First Bank, Tokyo 42 

Group of Country People 48 

Garden at Oji 54 

New Year's Greeting 64 

The Emperor of Japan 82 

The Prince Imperial 82 

Osaka Castle 86 

Four Gates : Nij5 Castle, Kyoto ; Palace, Kyoto ; 

Palace, Tokyo ; Sakurada, Tokyo 92 

Statesmen of New Japan : Prince Sanjo and Count 

Katsu 1 • • _• 9^ 

Statesmen of New Japan: Okubo, Okubo (Saigo), 

Kido, and Prince Iwakura 108 

Departments of State : Navy ; Agriculture and Com- 
merce; Justice; Foreign Affairs 124 

Diet Buildings : House of Commons and House of 

Peers 128 

Statesmen of New Japan: Viscount Katsura and 

Marquis ltd . . , , , 138 



xiv ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Statesmen of New Japan : Count Okuma, Count 

Inouye, Count Itagaki, Count Matsukata . , . 142 
Military Leaders : Field Marshal Yamagata ; Field 

Marshal Oyama 148 

Naval Leaders : Admiral Enomoto ; Admiral Kaba- 

yama 152 

Court Buildings, Tokyo 164 

The Mint, Osaka 164 

The Empress of Japan 180 

The Princess Imperial 180 

Educators and Scientists : Fukuzawa, Viscount 

Mori, Baron Ishiguro, Dr. Kitasato 200 

Imperial University Buildings, Tokyo 214 

Painting by Yasunobu : Heron and Lotus .... 224 

Painting by Ho-Itsu : View of Fuji-San .... 228 

Cherry Blossoms 246 

Group of Pilgrims 252 

Buddhist Priests 252 

Gospel Ship (Fukuiu Maru) 268 

Y. M. C. A. Summer School, Doshisha, Kyoto . . 268 

Military Review, Himeji 280 

"Shikishiwa" in Naval Review, Kobe .... 284 

Imperial Dockyard, Yokosuka 300 

Map of the Empire , , 310 



JAPANESE PRONUNCIATION 



alike a in father 


at as in aisle 


e " e " men 


ei " weigh 


i " i " pin 
" " pony 


au') . , 

>• as in bon 
) 


u " 00 " book 


u as 00 in moon 



i in the middle of a word and u in the middle or at the end of 
a word are sometimes almost inaudible. 

The consonants are aU sounded, as in English : g, however, has 
only the hard sound, as in give, although the nasal ng is often 
heard ; ch and s are always soft, as in check and sin ; and z before 
u has the sound of dz. In the case of double consonants, each one 
must be given its full sound. 

There are as many syllables as vowels. There is practically 
no accent ; but care must be taken to distinguish between o and 
o, u and u, of which the second is more prolonged than the first. 

Be sure to avoid the flat sound of a, which is always pro- 
nounced ah. 



A HANDBOOK 

OF 

MODERN JAPAN 

CHAPTER I 
PHYSIOGRAPHY 

Outline of Topics : Situation of country ; relation to the United 
States ; lines of communication ; " Key of Asia." — Area of em- 
pire. — Divisions : highways, provinces, prefectures, principal cities 
and ports. — Dense population ; natives and foreigners ; Japanese 
abroad. — Mountains, volcanoes, hot springs, earthquakes. — Lakes, 
rivers, bays, harbors, floods, tidal waves. — Epidemics, pests. — Cli- 
mate: temperature, winds (typhoons), moisture, ocean currents. 
— Flora and fauna. — Peculiar position: Japan and the United 
States. — Bibliography. 

THE Japanese may appropriately be called 
"our antipodal neighbors." They do not 
live, it is true, at a point exactly opposite 
to us on this globe; but they belong to the obverse, 
or Eastern, hemisphere, and are an Oriental people 
of another race. They are separated from us by from 
4,000 to 5,000 miles of the so-called, but misnamed, 
Pacific Ocean ; but they are connected to us by many 
lines of freight and passenger vessels. In fact, in 
their case, as in many other instances, the " disunit- 
ing ocean " QOceanus cUssociahilis') of the Romans has 
1 1 



iJ A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

really disappeared, and even a broad expanse of waters 
has become a connecting link between the countries 
on the opposite shores. It may be, in a certain 
measure, correct to say, as pupils in geography are 
taught to express it, that the Pacific Ocean separates 
the United States from Japan ; but it is, in a broader 
and higher sense, just as accurate to state that this 
ocean binds us with our Asiatic neighbors and friends 
in the closest ties. Japan was "opened" by the 
United States; has been assisted materially, politi- 
cally, socially, educationally, and morally by Ameri- 
can influences in her wonderful career of progress; 
and she appreciates the kindliness and friendship of 
our people. We, in turn, ought to know more about 
our rapidly developing jproUge, and no doubt de- 
sire to learn all we can concerning Japan and the 
Japanese. 

The development of trade and commerce has been 
assisted by the power of steam to bring Japan and 
the United States into close and intimate relations. 
There are steamship lines from San Francisco, Van- 
couver, Tacoma, Seattle, Portland, and San Diego 
to Yokohama or Kobe; and there are also a great 
many sailing vessels plying between Japan and 
America. The routes from San Francisco and San 
Diego direct to Japan are several hundred miles 
farther than the routes from the more northerly ports 
mentioned above. The time occupied by the voyage 
across the Pacific Ocean varies according to the ves- 
sel, the winds and currents, etc. ; but it may be put 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 3 

down in a general way at about 14 days. The fast 
royal mail steamers of the Canadian Pacific line often 
make the trip in much less time, and thus bring 
Chicago, for instance, within only a little more than 
two weeks' communication with Yokohama. It must, 
therefore, be evident that Japan is no longer a re- 
mote country, but is as near to the Pacific coast of 
America, in time of passage, as the Atlantic coast 
of America was twenty years ago to Europe. 

It is true that the steamers of the San Francisco 
and San Diego lines, especially those carrying mails 
and passengers, go and come via Honolulu, so that 
the voyage to Japan thus requires a few more days 
than the direct trip would take. But, as Hawaii is 
now part of the United States, our country has 
thus become only about 10 days distant from Japan, 
Moreover, as the Philippine Islands are also a por- 
tion of our country, and Formosa has been for several 
years a part of Japan, the territories of the two na- 
tions are brought almost within a stone's throw, and 
the people almost within speaking distance, of each 
other. This proximity of the two nations to each 
other should be an incentive to draw even more 
closely together the ties, not only historical, com- 
mercial, and material, but also political, social, edu- 
cational, intellectual, moral, and religious, that bind 
them to each other, and, so far as possible, to make 
"Japan and America all the same heart." 

But Japan is also an Asiatic country, and thus 
holds a peculiar relation to the countries on the 



4 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

eastern coast of the mainland, of Asia. The islands 
of Japan stretch along that shore in close proximity 
to Siberia, Korea, and China, and are not far distant 
from Siam. With all of those countries she enters, 
therefore, into most intimate relationship of many- 
kinds. With Russia the relation is one of rivalry, 
of more or less hostility, at present passive, but 
likely to be aroused into activity by some unusually 
exasperating event. In any case, Japan is the only 
Far-Eastern power that can be relied upon to check 
the aggressions of Russia; and this fact the wise 
statesmen of Great Britain have clearly recognized by 
entering into the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Toward 
Korea, China, and Siam, Japan sustains a natural 
position of leadership, because she is far in advance 
of all those nations in civilization. Ties geographi- 
cal, racial, social, political, intellectual, and reli- 
gious, bind them more or less closely together, so that 
Japan can more sympathetically and thus more easily 
lead them out into the path of progress. The natural 
and common routes of trade and travel from the 
United States to those countries run via Japan, 
which thus becomes, in more senses than one, "the 
key of Asia"; and for that very reason she is also 
the logical mediator between the East and the 
West. 

The Japanese call their country Dai Nihon, or 
Dai Nippon (Great Japan), and have always had a 
patriotic faith in the reality of its greatness. But 
this delightful delusion is rudely dispelled when the 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 6 

fact is expressed statistically, in cold figures, that 
the area of the Empire of Japan is about 161,000 
square miles, or only a little more than that of Cali- 
fornia. It has, however, a comparatively long coast 
line of more than 18,000 miles. The name Nihon^ 
or Nippon (a corruption of the Chinese Jih-pen, from 
which was derived " Japan "), means "sun-source," 
and was given because the country lay to the east 
from China. It is for this reason that Japan is 
often called "The Sunrise Kingdom," and that the 
Imperial flag contains the simple design of a bright 
sun on a plain white background.^ 

Japan proper comprises only the four large islands, 
called Hondo, Shikoku, Kyushiu, and Yezo (Hok- 
kaid5) ; but the Empire of Japan includes also For- 
mosa, the Pescadores, and about 4,000 small islands, 
of which the Ryukyu (Loo Choo) and the Kurile 
groups are the most important. Japan proper lies 
mainly between the same parallels of latitude ^ as the 
States of the Mississippi valley, and presents even 
more various and extreme climates than may be 
found from Minnesota to Louisiana. 

The extreme northern point of the Empire of 
Japan is 50° 56' N., and the extreme southern point is 
21° 48' N. The extreme eastern point is 156° 32' E.,^ 
and the extreme western point 119° 20' E. These 
extremes furnish even greater varieties of climate 

1 Another design shows the sun's rays shooting out from the 
sun in the centre. 

2 24° 14'-45° 30' N. 

s But this does not include Marcus Island (Torishima). 



6 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

than those just mentioned. The Kurile Islands at 
the extreme north are frigid, and have practi- 
cally no animal or vegetable life; while the beau- 
tiful island of Formosa at the extreme south is half 
in the tropics, with a corresponding climate, and 
abounds in most valuable products. Marcus Island, 
farther out in the Pacific, has guano deposits worth 
working. 

Japan proper is divided geographically into nine 
"circuits," called Gokinai, Tokaido, Tosando, Hoku- 
rikudo, Sanindo, Sanyodo, Nankaido, Saikaido, Hok- 
kaido. The word do, which appears in all the names 
except the first, means "road" or "highway." Some 
of these appellations are not much used at present; 
but others are retained in various connections, espe- 
cially in the names of railways, banks, companies, 
or schools. A common official division of the largest 
island {Hondo) is into Central, Northern, and West- 
ern. Japan proper was also subdivided into 85 Kuni 
(Province), the names of which are still retained in 
general use to some extent. But, for purposes of 
administration, the empire is divided into 3 Fu 
(Municipality) and 43 Ken (Prefecture), besides Yezo 
(or Hokkaido) and Formosa, each of which is ad- 
ministered as a " territory " or "colony." The dis- 
tinction between Fu and Ken is practically one in 
name only. These large divisions are again divided: 
the former into Ktt (Urban District) and Gun (Rural 
District) ; and the latter into Gun. There are also 
more than 50 incorporated Cities (Shi) within the Fu 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 7 

and Ken.^ Moreover, the Gun is subdivided into 
Cho (Town) and Son (Village). 

But, while the prefix "great" does not apply to 
Japan with reference to its extent, it is certainly- 
appropriate to the contents of that country. Within 
the Empire of Japan are great mountains with grand 
scenery, great and magnificent temples, great cities, 
and a great many people. For, while the area of 
Japan is only one-twentieth of that of the United 
States, the population is about one -half as numerous. 
Even in the country districts the villages are almost 
continuous, so that it is an infrequent experience to 
ride a mile without seeing a habitation; and in the 
large cities the people are huddled very closely to- 
gether. The latest official statistics, those of 1900, 
give the total population of Japan as 47,646,810, of 
whom the males exceed the females by about 600,000 ; 
and as of late years the annual increase has amounted 
to about 500,000, the present population (1903) may 
fairly be estimated at more than 49,000,000. 

The number of foreigners resident in Japan in 
1900 exceeded 12,000, of whom more than half were 
Chinese, and more than a quarter were British and 
American. The number of Japanese then living 
abroad was 123,791, of whom 90,146 were in the 
United States (chiefly in Hawaii), 15,829 in Korea, 
and 8,215 in British territory. 

Japan is a mountainous country. The level ground, 

1 There is a Tokyo Shi, for instance, in Tokyo Fu. See Appen- 
dix for lists of Kuni and Ken. 



8 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

including artificial terraces, is barely 12 per cent of 
the area of the whole empire. A long range of high 
mountains runs like a backbone through the main 
island. The highest peak is the famous Fuji, which 
rises 12,365 feet above the sea-level, and is a "dor- 
mant volcano," whose last eruption occurred in 1708. 
Its summit is covered with snow about ten months 
in the year. There are several other peaks of more 
than 8,000 feet elevation, such as Mitake, Akashi, 
Shirane, Komagatake, Aso, Asama, Bandai, some of 
which are active volcanoes. Eruptions happen not 
infrequently; and earthquakes, more or less severe, 
registered by the seismometer, are of daily occur- 
rence, although most of the shocks are not ordinarily 
perceptible.^ There are also several excellent hot 
springs, of sulphuric or other mineral quality, as at 
Ikao, Kusatsu, Atami, Hakone, Arima, Onsen. The 
mountainous character of Japan has also its pleasant 
features, because it furnishes means of escape from 
the depressing heat of summer. Karuizawa, Nikko, 
Miyanoshita, Hakone, Arima, Chtizenji are the most 
popular summer resorts. 

There are not many, or large, lakes in Japan. 
Lake Biwa, 50 miles long and 20 miles wide at its 
widest point, is the largest and most famous. Ha- 
kone Lake, the "Asiatic Loch Lomond," is beautiful, 
and especially noted for the reflection of Mount Fuji 
in its water by moonlight. Lake Chuzenji, in the 
Nikko mountains, is regarded by many as "unri- 

1 Students of seismology should consult Prof essor Milne's works. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 9 

vailed for beauty " and " hardly surpassed in any 
land." 

There are many beautiful waterfalls, such as 
Kegon, Urami, and others in the Nikko district, 
Nunobiki at Kobe, Nachi in Kii, etc. 

There are numerous rivers, short and swift; and 
it is these streams, which, after a rainy season, 
swelling and rushing impetuously down from the 
mountains, overflow their sandy banks and cause 
annually a terrible destruction of life and property. 
The most important rivers are the Tone, the Shinano, 
the Kiso, the Kitakami, the Tenryu, in the main 
island, and the Ishikari in Yezo. The last is the 
longest (about 400 miles) ; the next is the Shinano 
(almost 250 miles); but no other river comes up 
even to 200 miles in length. The Tenryu-gawa ^ is 
famous for its rapids. Some of these rivers are 
navigable by small steamers. 

Japan, with its long and irregular coast line, is 
particularly rich in bays and harbors, both natural 
and artificial, which furnish shelter for the shipping 
of all kinds. The "open ports," which formerly 
numbered only 6 (Nagasaki, Yokohama, Hakodate, 
Osaka, Kobe, Niigata), have reached the figure 26; 
and the growing foreign commerce annually demands 
further enlargement. Of the old ports, Niigata is 
of no special importance in foreign commerce ; but, 
of the new ports, Kuchinotsu in Kyushiu, Muroran 
in Yezo (Hokkaido), and especially Bakan and Moji, 

1 Kawa, or gawa, in composition, means " river." 



10 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

on opposite sides of the Straits of Shimonoseki, are 
rapidly growing. In this connection it is, perhaps, 
not inappropriate to make mention of the far-famed 
"Inland Sea," known to the Japanese as Seto-no-uchi 
(Between the Straits), or Seto-ucM, which lies be- 
tween the main island, Shikoku and Kyushiu. 

The long coast line of Japan is a source of dan- 
ger; for tidal waves occasionally spread devastation 
along the shore. These, with floods, earthquakes, 
eruptions, typhoons, and conflagrations, make a 
combination of calamities which annually prove very 
disastrous in Japan. 

The country is subject to epidemics, like dysen- 
tery, smallpox, cholera, plague, and "La Grippe," 
which generally prove quite fatal. In 1890, for 
instance, some 50,000 Japanese were attacked by 
cholera, and about 3,0,000 died; and during two 
seasons of the " Russian epidemic " large numbers 
of Japanese were carried away. In both cases the 
foreigners living in Japan enjoyed comparative im- 
munity. And now, on account of the advance in 
medical science, more stringent quarantine, and 
better sanitary measures, the mortality among Jap- 
anese has been considerably diminished. This for- 
tunate result is largely due to the efforts of such 
men as Dr. Kitasato, whose fame as a bacteriologist 
is world-wide. The zoological pests of Japan are 
fleas, mosquitoes, and rats, all of which are very 
troublesome; but modern improvements minimize 
the extent of their power. 




NAGASAKI HARBOR, AND LIGHTHOUSE INLAND SEA 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 11 

But, in spite of the drawbacks just enumerated, 
Japan is a beautiful spot for residence. " The aspect 
of nature in Japan . . . comprises a variety of savage 
hideousness, appalling destructiveness, and almost 
heavenly beauty." The climate, though somewhat 
debilitating, is fairly salubrious, and on the whole 
is very delightful. The extremes of heat and cold 
are not so great as in Chicago, for instance, but 
are rendered more intolerable and depressing by the 
humidity of the atmosphere. No month is exempt 
from rain, which is most plentiful from June on 
through September; and those two months are the 
schedule dates for the two "rainy seasons." Septem- 
ber is also liable to bring a terrible typhoon. Except 
in the northern, or in the mountainous, districts, 
snow is infrequent and light, and fogs are rare. 
The spring is the most trying, and the autumn the 
most charming season of the year.^ 

On account of the extent of Japan from north to 
south, the wide differences of elevation and depres- 
sion, and the influence of monsoons and ocean 
currents, there is no uniformity in the climate. 
For instance, the eastern coast, along which runs 
the Kuro Shio (Black Stream), with a moderating 
influence like that of the Gulf Stream, is much 
warmer than the western coast, which is swept by 
Siberian breezes and Arctic currents. The exces- 
sive humidity is due to the insular position and 
heavy rainfall. Almost all portions of the country 

1 See also meteorological tables in Appendix. 



12 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

are subject more or less to sudden changes of 
weather. It is also said that there is in the air a 
great lack of ozone (only about one-third as much 
as in most Western lands) ; and for this reason Occi- 
dentals at least are unable to carry on as vigorous 
physical and mental labor as in the home lands. 
Foreign children, however, seem to thrive well in 
Japan. 

"Roughly speaking, the Japanese summer is hot 
and occasionally wet; September and the first half 
of October much wetter; the late autumn and early 
winter cool, comparatively dry, and delightful; Feb- 
ruary and March disagreeable, with occasional snow 
and dirty weather, which is all the more keenly 
felt in Japanese inns devoid of fireplaces; the late 
spring rainy and windy, with beautiful days inter- 
spersed. But different years vary greatly from each 
other."! 

In Japan "a rich soil, a genial climate, and a 
sufficient rainfall produce luxuriant vegetation " of 
the many varieties of the three zones over which the 
country stretches. In Formosa, Kytishiu, Shikoku, 
and the Ryukyu Islands, " the general aspect is tropi- 
cal"; on the main island the general appearance is 
temperate; while Yezo and the Kurile Islands begin 
to be quite frigid. The commonest trees are the 
pine, cedar, maple, oak, lacquer, camphor, camellia, 

1 This quotation is from Murray's " Hand-Book for Japan " by 
Chamberlain and Mason. The Introduction of that book contains 
most yaluable practical information for prospectire travellers in 
Japan. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 13 

plum, peach, and cherry; but the last three are 
grown for their flowers rather than for their fruit 
or wood. The bamboo, which grows abundantly, 
is one of the most useful plants, and is extensively 
employed also in ornamentation. 

In the fauna of Japan we do not find such great 
variety. Fish and other marine life are very abun- 
dant; fresh-water fish are also numerous; and all 
these furnish both livelihood and living to millions 
of people. Birds are also quite numerous ; and some 
of them, like the so-called "nightingale" Qiigiiisu), 
are sweet singers. The badger, bear, boar, deer, 
fox, hare, and monkey are found; cats, chickens, 
dogs, horses, oxen, rats, and weasels are numerous ; 
but sheep and goats are rare. Snakes and lizards 
are many; but really dangerous animals are compara- 
tively few, except the foxes and badgers, which are 
said to have the power to bewitch people! 

In conclusion, attention should be called once more 
to the physiographical advantages of Japan, and 
it may be of interest to set them forth from the point 
of view of a Japanese who has indulged in some 
prognostications of the future of his nation. From 
the insular position of Japan, he assumes an adapta- 
bility to commerce and navigation ; from the situation 
of Japan, "on the periphery of the land hemisphere," 
and thus at a safe distance from "the centre of 
national animosities," he deems her comparatively 
secure from "the depredations of the world's most 
conquering nations"; from the direction of her chief 



14 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

mountain system (her backbone), and "the variegated 
configurations of her surface," he thinks that "na- 
tional unity with local independence " may easily be 
developed. Likewise, because more indentations are 
found on the eastern than on the western sides of the 
Japanese islands, except in the southwestern island 
of Kyushiu, where the opposite is true ; because the 
ports of California, Oregon, Washington, and British 
Columbia are open toward Japan ; because the Hoang- 
Ho, the Yangtze Kiang, and the Canton rivers all 
flow and empty toward Japan; because the latter 
thus "turns her back on Siberia, but extends one 
arm toward America and the other toward China and 
India"; because "winds and currents seem to imply 
the same thing [by] making a call at Yokohama 
almost a necessity to a vessel that plies between the 
two continents, " — he conceives of his native country 
as a nahodo (middleman, or arbiter) "between the 
democratic West and the Imperial East, between the 
Christian America and the Buddhist Asia." 

But since these comparisons were made, the geog- 
raphy of Eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean has 
been somewhat altered. Japan has acquired For- 
mosa; the United States has assumed the responsi- 
bility of the Philippines; and China is threatened 
with partition through "spheres of influence." 
Japan, therefore, seems now to be lying off the 
eastern coast of Asia, with her back turned on 
Russia with Siberian breezes and Arctic currents, 
her face turned toward America, with one hand 



PHYSIOGRAPHY 15 

stretched out toward the Aleutian Islands and 
Alaska and the other toward the Philippines, for 
the hearty grasp of friendship. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

For more detailed information concerning the topics treated 
in this chapter, the reader is referred to " The Story of Japan " 
(Murray), in the " Story of the Nations " series ; " The Gist 
of Japan" (Peery) ; and " Advance Japan " (Morris). 

For pleasant descriptions of various portions of Japan, " Jin- 
rikisha Days in Japan" (Miss Scidmore); "Lotos-Time in 
Japan " (Finck) ; '' Japan and her People " (Miss Hartshorne) ; 
and "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" (Miss Bird, novs^Mrs. Bishop) 
are recommended. 

The most complete popular work on the country is the 
" Hand-Book for Japan" (Chamberlain and Mason), 7th edition ; 
and the most thorough scientific treatment is to be found in 
Rein's "Japan." 



CHAPTER II 
INDUSTRIAL JAPAN 

Outline of Topics : Agriculture ; petty farming ; small capital 
and income ; character of farmer ; decrease of farmers ; principal 
products; rice; tea; tobacco; silk; cotton; camphor; bamboo; 
marine products and industries. — Mining. — Engineering. — Ship- 
building. — Miscellaneous industries. — Mechanical industries. — 
Shopping in Japan. — Wages and incomes. — Guilds, labor unions, 
strikes, etc. — Mr. Katayama. — Socialism. — Bibliography. 

THE chief occupation of the Japanese is agri- 
culture, in which the great mass of the 
people are employed. On account of the 
volcanic nature and the mountainous condition of 
the country, there are large portions not tillable ; ^ 
and for the same reason, perhaps, the soil in general 
is not naturally very fertile. It must be, and can be, 
made so by artificial means; but as yet not half of 
what is fairly fertile soil is under cultivation. Large 
portions of arable land, particularly in Yezo and 
Formosa, can be made to return rich harvests, and 
are gradually being brought under man's dominion. 
But it can be readily understood that if for any 
reason the crops fail, severe suffering will ensue, 
and perhaps become widespread. The prosperity of 
the country depends largely upon the prosperity of 
its farmers. 

1 See Appendix. 



INDUSTRIAL JAPAN IT 

Farming, like almost everything in that land of 
miniatures, is on a limited scale, as each man has 
only a very small holding. "There is no farm 
in Japan ; there are only gardens " (Uchimura). 
Even a "petty farmer" of our Northwest would 
ridicule the extremely insignificant farms of the 
Japanese, who, in turn, would be astounded at the 
prodigious domains of a Dalrymple. A careful in- 
vestigator, Dr. Karl Rathgen, has summed up the 
situation as follows : " In Japan are to be found only 
small holdings. A farm of five cho ^ (twelve acres) 
is considered very large. As a rule the Japanese 
farmer is without hired labor and without cattle. 
The family alone cultivates the farm, which, how- 
ever, is so small that a large share of the available 
labor can be devoted to other purposes besides farm- 
ing, such as the production of silk, indigo, tobacco. 
The average holding for the whole of Japan (ex- 
cluding the Hokkaido) for each agricultural family 
is 8.3 tan'^ (about two acres), varying from a maxi- 
mum of 17.6 tan in the prefecture of Aomori to a 
minimum of 5.3 tan in the prefecture of Wakayama." 
"There are no large landed proprietors in Japan." 

A Japanese farm is so insignificant, partly because 
a Japanese farmer has only a very small capital, and 
needs only a slight income to support life. It has 
been estimated that a man so fortunate as to own 
a farm of five cho'^ obtains therefrom an annual in- 
come of 100 or 120 yen.^ And yet the Japanese 

1 See tables of measurement and coinage, in Appendix, 
2 



18 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

farmers are very careful and thoroughly understand 
their business. "In spade-husbandry," says Dr. 
Griffis, " they have little to learn " ; but " in stock- 
raising, fruit-growing, and the raising of hardier 
grains than rice, they need much instruction." ^ 

A Japanese farmer is hard-working, industrious, 
stolid, conservative, and yet, by reason of his fatal- 
istic and stoical notions, in a way happy and con- 
tented. " Left to the soil to till it, to live and die 
upon it, the Japanese farmer has remained the same, 
. . . with his horizon bounded by his rice-fields, 
his water-courses, or the timbered hills, his intellect 
laid away for safe-keeping in the priest's hands, . . . 
caring little who rules him, unless he is taxed be- 
yond the power of flesh and blood to bear." He is, 
however, more than ordinarily interested in taxation, 
for the land-tax of three and one-third per cent of the 
assessed value of the land amounts to about half the 
national revenue, and is no inconsiderable part of 
the state, county, town, and village taxes. A reduc- 
tion to two and one-half per cent is now vigorously dis- 
cussed in the press ; a bill to that effect, however, has 
not yet succeeded in passing the Imperial Diet.^ 

1 See " The Yankees of the East " (Curtis), chap. xiii. 

2 The " Shakai Zasshi" has the following on the decrease of 
farmers : The causes of the phenomenon, briefly stated, are as 
below: (1) The current methods of farming require no intelli- 
gence in the farmer. He works very much like an animal in a 
purely mechanical fashion. Hence lads with minds are attracted 
to trade and industry. (2) The universality of education has in- 
creased the number of intelligent men among the lower classes, and 
this has made farmers discontented with their lot. (3) City life offers 
many attractions to active-minded persons ; and hence in Japan, as 



IliTDUSTRIAL JAPAN 19 

The principal products of the Japanese farms are 
rice, barley, wheat, millet, maize, beans, peas, pota- 
toes (Irish and sweet), turnips, carrots, melons, egg- 
plants, buckwheat, onions, beets, and a large white 
bitter radish (daihon'). A very good average yield 
is fifty bushels to an acre. The entire annual pro- 
duction of rice varies each year, but averages about 
40,000,000 hoTcu ;'^ and the annual exportation of rice 
runs from about 3,500,000 yen to over 10,000,000 
yen. The list of fruits ^ and nuts grown in Japan 
includes pears, peaches, oranges, figs, persimmons, 
grapes, plums, loquats, apricots, strawberries, bananas, 
apples, peanuts, chestnuts, etc. 

Among other important Japanese productions must 
be mentioned, of course, tea, tobacco, and mulberry 
trees. Of these the last is, perhaps, indigenous; 
but the other two are importations in their origin. 
The culture of tea is most extensively carried on in 
the middle and southern districts. The annual pro- 
duction is now about 8,000,000 kwan ;^ the annual 
export trade is valued at about 8,000,000 yen. The 
price of tea runs from five cents to six dollars per 
pound, of which the last is raised at Uji, near Kyoto. 
The Japanese are a tea-drinking people; they use 
that beverage at meals and between meals, at all 

in the Western world, there has been a steady flow of country- 
people towards the towns. The statistics published on this matter 
show, that, whereas in 1889 the proportion of townspeople to the 
total number of inhabitants was 15 in every 100 persons, in 1898 it 
has risen to 18. This accounts for the scarcity of farm labor, which 
has constantly been complained of in recent years. — Japan Mail, 

1 See tables in Appendix. 2 jggg Appendix. 

2 See tables of weights and measures in Appendi:^. 



20 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

times and in all places. It is true that they drink it 
from a very small cup, which holds about two table- 
spoonfuls, but they drink, as we are told to pray, 
"without ceasing." Hot water is kept ever ready for 
making tea, which is sipped every few minutes, and is 
always served, with cake or confectionery, to visitors. ^ 

Tobacco was introduced into Japan by the Portu- 
guese, but its use was at first strictly prohibited. 
The practice of smoking, however, rapidly spread 
until it became well-nigh a universal custom, not 
even restricted to the male sex. The Lilliputian 
pipe would seem to indicate that only a limited 
amount of the weed is used; but smoking, like 
tea-drinking, is practised "early and often." The 
Japanese tobacco is said to be "remarkable for its 
mildness and dryness." 

The silk industry is the most important in rela- 
tion to Japan's foreign trade, and is on the increase. 
Silk is sent away to American and European markets 
chiefly in its raw state, but is also manufactured into 
handkerchiefs, etc. The exports of silk for the year 
1898 amounted to about $31,000,000, or about one- 
fifth of the entire export trade. It would, of course, 
be beyond the limits of this chapter to enter into the 
description of the details of sericulture; it may be 
sufficient here to state that only the stolid patience 
of Orientals can well endure the slow, tedious, and 
painstaking process of feeding the silkworms. ^ 

1 Scidmore's "Jinrikisha Days in Japan," chap, xxxv., and 
Gribble's paper in Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xii. 
pp. 1-33. 

2 Scidmore's " Jinrikisha Days in Japan," chaps, xxvi., xxvii. 



INDUSTRIAL JAPAN 21 

Cotton-spinning is a comparatively new industry 
in Japan, but is growing rapidly. Cotton is, of 
course, the principal material for the clothing of the 
common people, who cannot afford silk robes. But 
Japan, though raising a great deal of cotton, cannot 
supply the demand, and imports large quantities 
from India and America. It is only within a short 
time that cotton-spinning by machinery has become 
a Japanese industry ; formerly all the yarn was spun 
by hand ; but in 1900 there were 76 cotton-mills in 
Japan. Some are very small concerns ; but in Osaka, 
Nagoya, and Tokyo there are comparatively large and 
flourishing mills. Ordinary workmen receive from 
12 to 20 sen a day; skilled laborers make from 30 to 
40 sen; girls earn from 10 to 20 sen, and children 
only a few sen per day ; but the stockholders receive 
dividends of from 10 to 20 per cent per annum. 

Since Japan acquired Formosa from China, she has 
had added to her resources another very important 
and valuable product, in which she possesses prac- 
tically a monopoly of the world's market and a sup- 
ply supposed to be sufficient for the demands of the 
whole world for this entire century. It has been 
estimated, for instance, that the area of interior dis- 
tricts in which the camphor tree is found will reach 
over 1,500 miles. The camphor business of Japan 
in Formosa is in the hands of a British firm, to 
whom, as highest bidder, the government let out 
its monopoly for a fixed term of years. ^ 

1 See Davidson's " Island of Formosa." 



22 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Perhaps the most generally useful product of Japan 
is the bamboo,^ which "finds a use in every size, at 
all ages, and for manifold purposes," or, as Huish 
expresses it, "is used for everything." Rein and 
Chamberlain each takes up a page or more for an 
incomplete list of articles made from bamboo; so 
that Piggott is surely right when he states that it is 
"an easier task to say what is not made of bamboo." 

Inasmuch as Japan is an insular country, with a 
long line of sea-coast, it is natural that fishing should 
be one of the principal occupations of the people, and 
that fish, seaweed, and other marine products should 
be common diet. From ancient times down to the 
opening of Japan, the fishing industry was a simple 
occupation, somewhat limited in its scope; but since 
the Japanese have learned from other nations to what 
extent marine industries are capable of development, 
fishing has become the source of many and varied 
lines of business. The canning industry, for in- 
stance, is of quite recent origin, but is growing 
rapidly. Whaling and sealing are very profitable 
occupations. Smelt-fishing by torchlight by means 
of tame cormorants was largely employed in olden 
times, and is kept up somewhat even to the present 
day. The occupation of a fisherman, though arduous 
and dangerous, is not entirely prosaic, and, in Japan, 
contributes to art. The return home of the fishing- 

1 See Transactions Japan Society, London, vol. i., for an interest- 
ing paper by Charles Holme, and Transactions Asiatic Society of 
Japan, vol. xxvii., for an elaborate and finely illustrated paper by 
Sir Ernest Satow, on " Bamboo." 




% 




INDUSTEIAL JAPAN 23 

smacks in the afternoon is an interesting sight; and 
the aspect of the sea, dotted with white sails, appeals 
so strongly to the aesthetic sense of the Japanese 
that it is included among the " eight views " of any 
locality. 

Mining is also a flourishing industry in Japan, as 
the country is quite rich in mineral resources. Coal 
is so extensively found that it constitutes an item of 
export. Copper, antimony, sulphur, and silver are 
found in large quantities; gold, tin, iron, lead, salt, 
etc., in smaller quantities. Oil, too, has sprung up 
into an important product. ^ 

Engineering, perhaps, deserves a paragraph by 
itself. This department in the Imperial University 
is flourishing, and sends forth annually a large 
number of good engineers. In civil engineering 
the Japanese have become so skilful that they have 
little need now of foreign experts except in the 
matter of general supervision. 

It is worthy of special notice that the Japanese 
have become quite skilful in ship-building, so that 
they now construct vessels of various kinds, not only 
for themselves but for other nations. The Mitsu 
Bishi Company, Nagasaki, has constructed for the 
Japan Mail Steamship Company three fine passenger 
steamers of 6,300 tons each. At the Uraga Dock- 
yard large American men-of-war have been satisfac- 
torily repaired; and on October 15, 1902, a small 
United States gunboat was launched, — " the first 

1 See Appendix. 



24 A HANDBOOK OF MODEHN JAPAN" 

instance in which Japan has got an order of ship- 
building from a Western country," ^ 

Among the minor miscellaneous industries which 
can only be mentioned are sugar-raising, paper- 
making (there are a number of mills which are 
paying well), dyeing, glass-blowing, lumber, horse- 
breeding, poultry, pisciculture, ice, brick, fan, match, 
button, handkerchief, pottery, lacquer, weaving, em- 
broidery, sake and beer brewing, soy, etc. The ex- 
tent and variety of the industries of Modern Japan 
are also clearly evidenced in a short article about 
" The Osaka Exhibition " of 1903 in the Appendix. 

In what we style "the mechanical arts" the Jap- 
anese excel, and have a world-wide reputation. With 
their innate aesthetic instincts they make the most 
commonplace beautiful. It is a trite saying that a 
globe-trotter, picking up in a native shop a very 
pretty little article, and admiring it for its simplicity 
and exquisite taste, is likely to find it an ordinary 
household utensil. Japanese lacquer work is dis- 
tinctive and remarkable for its beauty and strength ; 
lacquered utensils, such as bowls, trays, etc., are 
not damaged by boiling soups, hot water, or even 
cigar ashes. In porcelain and pottery, the Japanese 
are celebrated for the artistic skill displayed in 
manufacture and ornamentation. "The bronze and 
inlaid metal work of Japan is highly esteemed." 
Japanese swords, too, are remarkable weapons with 
"astonishing cleaving power." To summarize this 
1 Japan Times. See also Appendix. 



INDUSTRIAL JAPAN 25 

paragraph, it may be said that the Japanese have 
turned what we call mechanical industries into fine 
arts, which display a magnificent triumph of aestheti- 
cism even in little things. ^ 

This chapter would be incomplete without a para- 
graph concerning Japanese shops, or retail stores, 
which are among the first curiosities to attract and 
rivet a foreigner's attention. The building is, per- 
haps, a small, low, frame structure, crowded among 
its fellows on a narrow lane. The floor is raised a 
foot or so above the ground, and is covered, as usual, 
with thick matting. Spread out on the floor or on 
wooden tiers or on shelves are the goods for sale. 
The shopkeeper sits on his feet on the floor, and 
calmly smokes his pipelet, or fans himself, or in 
winter warms his hands over the hibachi (fire-bowl). 
He greets you with a profound bow and most re- 
spectful words of welcome, but makes no attempt to 
effect a sale, or even to show an article unless you ask 
to see it. He is imperturbably indifferent whether 
or not you make a purchase; either way, it is all 
right. He will politely display anything you want 
to see ; and, even if, after making him much trouble, 
you buy nothing or only an insignificant and cheap 
article, he sends you away with as profound a bow 
and as polite expressions as if you had bought out 
the shop. Whether you buy little or much or even 
nothing, you are always dismissed with '"'' Arigato 
gozaimasu^'' and ^^ Mata irasshai,''^ which are very re- 

1 See also chapter on " JEsthetic Japan." 



26 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

spectful phrases for " Thank you " and. " Come again." 
Having dropped into "a veritable shoppers' para- 
dise," you will quickly "find yourself the prey of an 
acute case of shopping fever before you know it ! " 
It is, indeed, true, to quote further from this same 
writer, that "to stroll down the Broadway [known as 
the Ginza] of Tokio of an evening is a liberal educa- 
tion in e very-day art." ^ 

From what has already been written, it is easily 
noticeable that wages and incomes, like so many 
things in jpetite Japan, are insignificant. It may be 
added here that ordinary mechanics earn on an aver- 
age 60 sen a day, and the most skilful seldom get 
more than double that amount ; that carpenters earn 
from 50 to 80 sen a day; that street-car drivers and 
conductors receive 10 or 12 yen per month, and other 
workmen of the common people about the same. 
Even an official who receives 1,000 yen per year is 
considered to have a snug income. It will be in- 
ferred from this that the cost of living is proportion- 
ately cheaper, whether for provisions or for shelter 
or for clothes, and that the wants, the absolute ne- 
cessities, of the people are few and simple. Literally 
true it is, that a Japanese man " wants but little here 
below, nor wants that little long." With rice, bar- 
ley, sweet potatoes, other vegetables, fish, eggs, tea, 
and even sweetmeats in abundance and very cheap, 
a Japanese can subsist on little and be contented and 
happy with enough, or even less than that. But, 

1 Lowell's " Soul of the Far East," pp. 114-117, 



INDUSTRIAL JAPAN 2T 

unfortunately, the new civilization of the West has 
carried into Japan the itch for gold and the desire for 
more numerous and more expensive luxuries, and has 
increased the cost of living without increasing pro- 
portionately the amount of income or wages. ^ 

Industrial Japan has already become more or less 
modified by features of Occidental industrialism, 
such as guilds, trade unions, strikes, co-operative 
stores. It is true that feudal Japan also had guilds, 
which are, however, now run rather on modern lines. 
One of the oldest, strongest, and most compact is 
that of the dock coolies, who without many written 
rules are yet so well organized that they have 
almost an absolute monopoly, with frequent strikes, 
which are always successful. Others of the guilds 
are those of the sawyers, the plasterers, the stone- 
masons, the bricklayers, the carpenters, the barbers, 
the coolies (who can travel all over the empire with- 
out a penny and live on their fellows), the wrestlers, 
the actors, the gamblers, the pickpockets, etc. The 
beggars' guild is now defunct. The labor unions 
of modern days include the iron-workers, the ship- 
carpenters, the railway engineers, the railway work- 
men, the printers, and the European-style cooks. 
The last-mentioned is one in which foreigners resi- 
dent in Japan necessarily take a practical interest! 
The only unions which have become absolute masters 
of the situation are those of the dock coolies, the 
railway laborers, and the railway engineers. As for 
1 The Yankees of the East (Curtis), chap. xii. Also see Appendix. 



28 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

co-operative stores, there are a dozen or more in 
Toky5, Yokohama, and Northern Japan. 

The perfect organization of these modern unions 
is due largely to the efforts of a young man named 
Sen Katayama, who is the champion of the rights 
of the laboring man in Japan. He spent ten years 
in America and made a special study of social prob- 
lems. He is the head of Kingsley Hall, a social 
settlement of varied activity in the heart of Tokyo, 
and editor of the " Labor World, " the organ of the 
working classes. That the changes rapidly taking 
place in the industrial life of Japan will raise up 
serious problems, there is no doubt ; what phases they 
will assume cannot be foreseen. But " socialistic " 
ideas are carefully repressed in modern Japan. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

"Japan and its Trade" and "Advance Japan" (Morris); 
"The Yankees of the East" (Curtis); "Japan in Transition" 
(Ransome), chap. x. ; " The Awakening of the East " (Leroy- 
Beaulieu), chaps, iv. and v. ; and especially Rein's " Industries 
of Japan," in which the subject is treated in great detail with 
German thoroughness. But to keep pace with the rapid prog- 
ress along industrial and commercial lines, one really needs 
current English newspapers and magazines, such as are men- 
tioned in the chapter on "Language and Literature." The 
reports of the British and United States consular officials are 
also very useful in this respect. "Japan and America," a 
monthly magazine published in New York City, will be found 
convenient and valuable on this subject. 



CHAPTER III 
TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, COMMERCE 

Outline of Topics : Travelling in Old Japan ; yehicles of Old 
and New Japan ; jinrikisha ; railway travel ; telegraph and tele- 
phone; street-car, bicycle, and automobile; steamships. — Postal 
system. — Oil, gas, and electric light. — Foreign commerce ; variety 
of imports. — Mixed corporations. — Stock and other exchanges. — 
Banking system ; coinage ; monetary standard. — Baron Shibusawa 
on business ability of Japanese, prospects of industrial and com- 
mercial Japan, and financial situation. — Bibliography. 

ONE of the most common and most important 
indications of a great change in the hfe and 
civilization of Japan is to be seen in the 
improved modes of travel and transportation. The 
ancient method, though in some sections pack-horses 
and oxen were used, was essentially pedestrian. The 
common people travelled on foot, and carried or 
dragged over the road their own baggage or freight. 
Couriers, carrying the most important despatches, 
rehed upon fleetness of foot. The higher classes and 
wealthy people, even though not themselves making 
any exertions in their own behalf, were carried about 
in vehicles by coolies, who, with their human burdens, 
tramped from place to place. On water, too, travel 
and transportation depended mostly upon human mus- 
cular exertion, as all boats, small or large, had to be 
propelled by oars or poles, except when favored with a 



30 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

breeze to swell the sails and allow the boatmen a respite 
from their toil. But all this hard labor developed, of 
course, a strength of limb and a power of endurance 
that even in recent years have enabled the Japanese 
soldiers to march and fight in either the piercing cold 
and deep snow of Manchuria or the blistering heat 
of Formosa. A life of constant outdoor exposure to 
wind, rain, cold, or heat has toughened and browned 
the skin, and made an altogether hardy race out of the 
common people ; while the lack of this regular exercise 
and calisthenic training has left its mark in the com- 
paratively weak constitutions of those who travelled, 
not on their own feet, but on the shoulders of others. 

The common vehicles of the olden days were 
ordinary carts for freight and norimono and kago for 
passengers. The norimono is a good-sized sedan-chair 
or palanquin, in which the rider can sit in a fairly 
comfortable position. The hago is a sort of basket in 
which the traveller takes a half-sitting, half-reclining 
posture, not altogether comfortable — at least for tall 
foreigners. At present the norimono is seldom if 
ever employed except for corpses or invalids, but 
the kago is still used in mountainous regions, where 
nothing else is available. It must be understood, of 
course, that the nobles and their retainers often 
rode on horseback; but the great mass of the people 
walked and the few rode in kago or norimono. 

Now, however, modes of travel have changed 
greatly, and are changing year by year. There are 
still many pedestrians ; the kago is yet to be seen; 



TBAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, COMMERCE 31 

boats are propelled by stern-end oar or laboriously 
pushed along with poles ; and pack-horses and oxen 
— even in the streets of Tokyo — are in frequent use. 
But there are many other means of communication 
and transportation. There have come into use the 
horse-car, the stage, the jinrikisha, the railroad, with 
the telegraph and the telephone; the modern row- 
boat, the steamboat ; the bicycle, the automobile, and 
the electric railway, with the electric light to show 
the road by night. An excellent postal system and 
various other modern contrivances for facilitating the 
means of communication have been adopted. 

The most common mode of conveyance at present, in 
all possible localities, is the jin-riki-sha (man-power- 
carriage), or " Pull-man car," as it has been wittily 
called. This is a two-wheeled " small gig," or large 
baby-carriage, pulled by one or more men. A ride in 
a jinrikisha, after one has become accustomed to 
human labor in that capacity, is really comfortable 
and delightful. The coolies who pull these vehicles 
develop swiftness and endurance, but are comparatively 
short-lived. There is also a two-wheeled freight cart 
manipulated in the same fashion. It has been es- 
timated that in Tokyo alone there are more than 
700,000 hand-carts, almost 200,000 jinrikishas, about 
10,000 ox-carts, more than 25,000 other freight carts, 
and almost 3,000 omnibuses and horse-cars. The 
business of transportation there furnishes occupation 
to thousands of people, but gives to each engaged 
therein only a scanty remuneration, which is often 



32 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

insufficient for the support of life, after the tax has 
been paid. The fee for a jinrikisha ride averages 
about 10 or 12 sen per ri (2| miles), or varies from 
10 to 20 sen per hour. If a coolie makes 50 sen in 
one day, he is fortunate, and is lucky to average 25 
or 30 sen per day ; for some days he may be wearily 
waiting and watching from dawn to the dead of night 
without receiving scarcely a copper. Hard, indeed, 
is their lot; and their death rate is rather low.^ 

But even the jinrikisha will eventually be sup- 
planted for long journeys wherever a railroad goes. 
There are now in Japan about 4,000 miles of railway, 
and at least 1,200 miles more are said to be absolutely 
necessary. There is one continuous line of railroad 
from Aomori in the extreme north to Shimonoseki in 
the extreme south of the main island, and then, after 
crossing the Straits of Shimonoseki, there is another 
unbroken line from Moji to Nagasaki and Kagoshima 
or Kumamoto. In the island of Yezo (Hokkaido) is a 
short line built by American engineers after American 
models ; but all other raiboads in Japan were built 

1 " Unlike ordinary laborers jinrikisha men have always to 
work in the open air, often in defiance of the elements, and irre- 
spective of day or night. Sometimes they are covered from head 
to foot with dust and at other times drenched to the skin with 
water. Then again they experience a constant change in their 
bodily temperature, at one time perspiring from their arduous 
exertions, and at another shivering with cold. No one can doubt 
that such quick change in bodily temperature will sooner or later 
tell on the health of those unfortunate victims. At every street 
corner they are to be found on the eager look-out for customers, 
but exhaustion soon asserts its claim over them, as they invariably 
doze whenever and wherever they have the chance." 



TRAVEL, TRA]VrSPORTATIO]sr, COMMERCE 33 

and are operated according to the British methods. 
The rate of fare is 1 sen per mile for third class, 
2 sen for second class, and 3 sen for first class, and 
the rate of speed rarely exceeds 20 or 25 miles per 
hour; but fortunately the people are not in such a 
hurry as Americans. Recently, however, express 
trains, running at the rate of 30 or more miles per 
hour, have been started on several of the roads, espe- 
cially between large and important places. Dining- 
cars and sleeping-cars, too, may be found on some of 
the lines ; and the American check system is used for 
baggage. The government owns most of the rail- 
ways, and has been contemplating for some time the 
policy of buying up all the private lines. This may 
be desirable from a strategic point of view ; but from 
the business standpoint it is not advisable, for the 
government lines are not well managed. The best 
line in the country is a private one, the Sanyo Rail- 
way Company, operating west from Kobe.^ 

Railroads have been naturally accompanied, and 
often preceded, by telegraph lines, which now keep 
the various parts of the empire in close communica- 
tion with Tokyo and with each other. During 1901 
the telegrams numbered over 16,000,000, and are 
increasing rapidly in number every year. The 
Japanese syllabary has lent itself easily to a code 
like the Morse Code.^ Telephones, too, have been 

1 See Appendix for important railway statistics. 

2 Japan is also in cable communication with the rest of the 
world via both Hongkong and Vladivostock ; and press rates are 
available. 



34 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

introduced and are growing in favor so rapidly that 
the government cannot keep up with the petitions for 
installation. According to the latest reports, there 
were 10,554 telephones in Toky5, while 11,015 more 
were applied for. There are many public slot tele- 
phones, which can be used for a few minutes for 5 sen. 

Horse-cars are largely used in cities, but are being 
gradually supplanted by electric cars. The bus in 
the city and the stage in the country are in com- 
mon use, but cannot be recommended for comfort. 
Bicycles are very popular, and are cheaply manufac- 
tured in Japan ; even Japanese women have begun to 
ride, while young men are very skilful as trick riders 
and rapid as " scorchers." Automobiles also are 
coming into a limited use. 

In a country where formerly no ships large enough 
to make long voyages were allowed to be made, steam- 
ship companies are now flourishing. The Osaka 
Shosen Kwaisha (Osaka Merchant Marine Com- 
pany) is a very large and prosperous corporation, 
whose business is chiefly the coasting trade, but 
which also runs to Formosa, the Ryiik5ai Islands, 
the Bonin Islands, Korea, and China. But the lar- 
gest steamship company in Japan, and one of the 
largest in the world, is the Nippon Yusen Kwaisha 
(Japan Mail Steamship Company). It has a fleet 
of 76 vessels with 242,000 tons; and maintains not 
only a frequent coasting service, but also several for- 
eign lines, to Siberia, Korea, China, India, Australia, 
Europe, and America. This is the line which runs 



TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION", COMMERCE 35 

fortnightly from Seattle to Hongkong with excel- 
lent passenger accommodations. The Toyo Kisen 
Kwaisha (Oriental Steamship Company) is a Jap- 
anese organization with three fine vessels running 
about once a month from San Francisco to Hawaii, 
Japan, China, and Manila. The word Maru ^ in such 
combinations as " America Maru " or " Kaga Maru " is 
a special suffix always attached to the name of a ship. 
In Old Japan there was no official postal system, 
and letters were despatched by private messengers 
and relays of couriers. When Japan was opened to 
the world, some of the foreign nations represented 
there maintained special post-offices of their own, but 
these were gradually abandoned. It was in 1872 that 
the modern postal system of Japan was organized on 
American models ; and it was only five years later 
when Japan was admitted to the International Postal 
Union, The twenty-fifth anniversary of this event was 
celebrated with great eclat in Toky5 in 1902. The 
Japanese postal system has been gradually improved 
during its quarter- century of existence, so that in some 
respects it excels its model, the United States postal 
system, and is really one of the most efficient in the 
world. It includes registration, money orders, parcel 
post, reply postal cards, postal savings,^ and universal 
free deUvery. Letter postage is 3 sen within the 
empire and 10 sen to all countries of the International 
Postal Union ; postal cards are 1^ and 4 sen respec- 

^ It should be pronounced Mah-roo, not Ma-roo'. 
" See Appendix. 



36 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

tively. We also beg leave to remind Americans that 
letter postage to Japan is not 2 cents, but 5 cents per 
half ounce. 

Oil is most extensively used for lighting purposes ; 
but gas and electricity are also employed, and bring 
good dividends to companies furnishing such illumina- 
tion. A very large amount of oil has been annually 
imported from the United States and Russia ; but as 
rich fields have been found in Northern Japan,i 
the Standard Oil Company is also interested in a 
Japanese corporation, the International Oil Company, 
organized to work Japanese fields. Foreign capital 
has also been invested in the Osaka Gas Company, 
and is sought by the Tokyo Gas Company, as well as 
by several electric and steam railway companies. The 
first buildings erected for the Imperial Diet were 
supplied with electric lights, but caught fire in some 
way, and were totally destroyed. This calamity was 
laid at the door of a flaw in the electric lighting 
apparatus, and so frightened the Emperor that he 
decided not to use the electric lights in the palace ; 
but if my memory serves me rightly, after one or 
two nights of imperfect and unsatisfactory lighting, 
he resorted once more to electricity. 

The foreign trade of Japan has increased from 
$13,123,272 in 1868 to $265,017,161 in 1902,— 
twenty-fold in a third of a century .^ Of recent years 
the imports have been larger than the exports; in 

1 See Appendix. 

2 See table in Appendix. In 1902 the exports footed up almost 
$130,000,000, and the imports more than 1135,000,000. 



TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, COMMERCE 37 

1898 they were more than $55,000,000 in excess ; in 
1900, almost $41,500,000 in excess ; but in 1901 the 
difference was only about $1,750,000. The chief 
articles of export are silk (either raw, or partly or 
wholly manufactured), cotton yarn and goods, matches, 
coal, high-grade rice, copper, camphor, tea, matting, 
straw braid, and porcelain. The principal imports 
are raw cotton, shirting and printed cotton, mousse- 
line, wool, cotton velvet, satin, cheap rice, flour, 
sugar, petroleum, oil cake, peas and beans, machinery, 
iron and steel (including nails and rails), steamers, 
locomotives, and railway carriages. The exports are 
sent chiefly to the United States, Great Britain and 
colonies (especially Hongkong), China, and France ; 
while the imports come mostly from Great Britain 
and colonies (especially England, India, and Hong- 
kong), the United States, Germany, France and col- 
onies, and China. 

The variety in the geographical distribution of the 
imports of Japan may be faintly illustrated by the fol- 
lowing partial list of supplies taken by an American 
family from Tokyo to the summer resort of Hakone : 
soap from England and America, cocoa from England, 
butter from California, cornstarch from Buffalo, N. Y., 
Swiss milk, Holland candles, pickles from England, 
Scotch oatmeal, American rolled oats and cracked 
wheat, flour from Spokane Falls, Washington, canned 
goods from San Francisco, Kansas City, Chicago, and 
Omaha, and evaporated cream from Illinois. 

The first mixed corporation, composed of Japanese 



38 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

and foreigners, to be licensed underthe new Commercial 
Codes after the new treaties went into effect in 1899, 
was the Nippon Electric Company, in which a large 
electric company of Chicago is specially interested. 

Japan has several stock exchanges and chambers 
of commerce in various localities, and these are all 
under the strictest supervision and close restrictions. 

It was in 1872 that National Bank Regulations were 
first issued, and a few banks were established ; but in 
1876 it was found necessary to make radical amend- 
ments in those regulations in the way of affording 
greater facilities for the organization of banks. The 
result was that by 1879 there were 153 national banks 
in the country ; and in 1886 the further organization 
of national banks was stopped. In the mean time the 
Yokohama Specie Bank had been organized (in 1880) 
for the support of the foreign trade ; and (in 1882) 
the Bank of Japan (Nippon Ginko) had been organ- 
ized to " secure proper regulations of the currency." 
In 1897 the Industrial Bank, and later provincial 
agricultural-industrial banks were organized to give 
special banking facilities to local agricultural and in- 
dustrial circles. The Bank of Formosa, the Colonial 
Bank of Hokkaido, and a Credit Mobilier complete the 
list of official institutions. By 1899 all the national 
banks had either been changed into private banks or 
had gone out of existence. Private banks number 
over 1,800, of which the Mitsui, the Mitsubishi, the 
Hundredth, the Sumitomo, the Fifteenth (Nobles'), the 
First, and the Yasuda are the strongest. Savings- 




BAKON SHIBUSAWA 



TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATIOI^r, COMMERCE 39 

banks are also quite numerous (681), and are helping 
to develop habits of thrift and economy among the 
common people.^ 

The first Japanese mint was established at Osaka 
in 1871, and has been actively at work ever since ; 
and there is an institution in Tokyo for the manufac- 
ture of paper money. The coins now chiefly used are 
copper, nickel, silver, and gold; but in the country 
districts it is still possible to find brass coins of less 
than mill values. The copper pieces are | sen (5 rm), 
1 sen, and 2 sen ; the 5 sen piece is the only nickel 
coin ; the silver pieces are 5 sen, 10 sen, 20 sen, and 
50 sen ; and the gold coins are 5 yen, 10 yen, and 20 yen. 
There are also paper notes of 1 yen and upward : 
these are issued only by the Bank of Japan, and 
amounted in 1899 to over 250,000,000 yen. 

In 1897 Japan adopted the gold standard, so that 
exchange fluctuations with the Occident are slight, 
and the Japanese currency has a fixed value, at the 
rate of about 50 cents for the yen? 

Concerning the prospects of industrial and com- 
mercial Japan, it may be well to note the views ^ of 
Baron Shibusawa, one of the foremost of Japanese 
merchants and financiers. In referring to the capacity 
of the Japanese for business, the Baron says : — 

" There are, however, four peculiarities in the Japanese 
character which make it hard for the people to achieve 

1 See Hamaoka's pamphlet on " The Bank of Japan." 
^ For tables of currency, weights, measures, etc., see Appendix. 
® See -' Japan and America " for June and July, 1903; also consult 
Diosy's " New Far East," chap. vi. 



40 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

business success. These are: Firstly, impulsiveness, 
■which, causes them to be enthusiastic during successful 
business and progressive even to rashness when j&lled 
with enthusiasm ; secondly, lack of patience, which 
causes easy discouragement when business is not so suc- 
cessful ; thirdly, disinclination for union ; and fourthly, 
they do not honor credit as they should, which is so im- 
portant a factor in financial success. These four pecu- 
liarities are to be met with in Japanese business men in 
a more or less marked degree. 

"Although Japan, as a country, is old, yet her com- 
mercial and industrial career being new, there are neces- 
sarily many points of incompleteness. For example, 
although we have many railways, yet there is no close con- 
nection made between the railway station and the harbor. 
Again, although we have railways, yet we have no appro- 
priate cars, etc. To complete such work and to open 
up the resources of the country, and to allow Japan to 
benefit from them, we need more capital. The capital 
we have in the country is not enough. So what is now 
wanted in Japan is foreign capital. A great proportion 
of the Japanese people, however, are opposed to the 
idea of sharing any profits equally with any other na- 
tion. Their exclusiveness in this respect is a distinct 
relic of the old era. They ignore altogether the fact 
that, with the assistance of foreign capital, the profits 
would be quadrupled. The very idea of sharing with an 
outside power is distasteful to them. For instance, I 
have been endeavoring for many years by word and deed 
to obtain a revision of the laws relative to the ownership 
of land in Japan by foreigners. I may say that Marquis 
Ito and other public men are of my opinion in the mat- 
ter. Because, however, of this exclusive element in 
Japan, it has still been found impossible to allow for- 
eigners to own Japanese land. Until this change is 




i^^fe 




NOBLES BANK AND BANK OF JAPAN, TOKYO 



TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, COMMERCE 41 

made, foreign investors will naturally feel that there is 
little safety for their investments. 

" I am also anxious to introduce the idea of a system 
of trusteeship in order to encourage foreign nations to 
invest their money in Japanese enterprises. There are 
very many uncompleted works in Japan, which need oiit- 
side money to finish them and which would return good 
profits. I feel assured that it would be possible for 
prominent Japanese bankers and capitalists to make 
themselves personally responsible for the money of the 
foreign investor. By such a system the security of the 
investment would be much increased, and the foreign 
investor would have the assurance that his money was 
safe, even if the business in which it had been invested 
may have ceased to exist. The entire loss caused by 
the failure of Japanese business enterprises would thus 
be borne by the Japanese. 

" The day will come when Japan will compete with the 
powers already in the field on all lines of manufactured 
goods, but this time must necessarily be far distant. The 
trouble at present is that, while the Japanese can imitate 
everything, they cannot, at the same time, invent su- 
perior things. But the trade of the Oriental countries 
will come to be regarded as Japan's natural share, and 
she is already well capable of supplying it. 

" The resources of Japan are very varied and very fair 
in quantity at present. B-aw silk and tea are abundant, 
while coal is plentiful, as also copper and silver ; gold is 
not so much so. I hope to see our plentiful water sup- 
ply turned into good account and harnessed to produce 
electric energy. This would be a great saving of ex- 
pense and would cheapen the cost of production very 
much. Oil has been found in several districts and will 
take the place of coal to a large extent, and it is possible 
that if fully developed its export. trade may be made to 



42 A HAm)BOOK Or MODERN JAPAN 

the neighboring countries. In Hokkaido we have rich 
coal and silver mines and oil wells, while in Formosa 
we have rich gold mines. The iron we use in our iron 
works in Kiushiu comes partly from several mines of 
Japan and partly from China. 

" My hope for the future is that foreign capital may he 
brought into the country and that the economic position 
of the country may be made so secure as to leave no 
doubt possible in the mind of the world as to the stabil- 
ity of the Japanese Empire." 

We also take pleasure in quoting the same high 
authority upon the subject of the present financial 
situation in Japan, as follows : ^ — 

'' The present financial difficulty in Japan is only the 
natural sequence of the over-expansion of business of 
some years ago. In every country there are waves of 
prosperity followed by periods of depression. I have 
known, in the economic history of Japan since the 
Eestoration, five or six such waves. They do not neces- 
sarily injure the real financial standing of the country. 
The peculiarities of the Japanese business character 
have much to answer for in the way of increasing the 
appearance of financial insecurity during the times of 
depression. After the prosperous times of 1893 came 
the war with China and the subsequent indemnity. 
Much of the money paid by China was spent in Japan, 
and the Japanese people came to the conclusion that this 
increased circulation of money would be permanent. 
They acted impulsively in many enterprises, and rushed 
into all kinds of business because the government had 
over-expanded its enterprises after the war. The de- 
pression reached its height in 1900 and 1901, and busi- 

1 See " Japan and America " for June and July, 1903. 



TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, COMMERCE 43 

nesses were abandoned or reduced because it was not 
such easy work as formerly. I agree with Viscount 
Watanabe in his views on the present financial situation 
of the country, but I do not agree with him in his 
opinion that the present condition of afEairs will inevi- 
tably result in national bankruptcy. This will not be 
the case, because by proper management our national 
income can be made still greater than our expenditure." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

For interesting accounts of travel when and where modern 
conveniences were not available, read '^ Unbeaten Tracks in 
Japan" (Bird); "The Mikado's Empire" (Griffis); " Noto, 
an Unexplored Corner of Japan" (Lowell); "Glimpses of 
Unfamiliar Japan " (Hearn) ; and papei's in the Transactions 
of the Asiatic Society of Japan. For similarly interesting 
accounts of travel with modern conveniences read " Jinrikisha 
Days in Japan" (Scidmore) ; "Japan and her People" (Harts- 
horne) ; " The Yankees of the East " (Curtis). 

On the industrial and commercial phases of these topics, 
consult books, papers, magazines, and pamphlets mentioned in 
the bibliography of the preceding chapter ; also " General View 
of Commerce and Industry in the Empire of Japan," occasion- 
ally published for free distribution. 



CHAPTER IV 
PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 

Outline of Topics : Ainu ; ethnology ; two types ; compara- 
tive stature and weight ; intellectual and moral qualities. — Classes 
in society of old and new regimes ; social principle. — Family and 
empire. — Houses ; public buildings ; rooms ; foreign architecture. 
— Gardens. — Food ; meals ; table manners ; foreign cooking. — 
Undress and dress ; European costume. — Bathing. — Bibliography. 

WHO were the aborigines of Japan is yet a 
disputed question. Remains have been 
found of a race of dwarfs who dwelt in 
caves and pits, but who these people were is not 
positively known. They may have been contempo- 
rary with the Ainu, whom many call " the aborigines 
of Japan." It is certain, however, that the Ainu 
were once a very numerous nation, "the members 
of which formerly extended all over Japan, and were 
in Japan long before the present race of Japanese." 
But the latter gradually forced the former northward, 
until a final refuge was found in Yezo and the Kurile 
Islands. There the Ainu are now living, but are 
slowly dying out as a race ; there are at present only 
about 17,600 remaining. They are said to be "the 
hairiest race in the whole world," "of sturdy build," 
filthy in their habits (bathing is unknown), addicted 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 45 

to drunkenness, and yet "of a mild and amiable dis- 
position." Their religion is nature - worship. ^ 

It is well known that the Japanese are classed 
under the Mongolian (or Yellow) Race. They 
themselves boastfully assert that they belong to 
the "golden race," and are superior to Caucasians, 
who belong to the "silver race"! As Mongolians, 
they are marked, not only by a yellowish hue, of 
many shades from the darkest to the lightest, but 
also by straight black hair (rather coarse), scanty 
beard, rather broad and prominent cheek-bones, and 
eyes more or less oblique. Some think that the 
Japanese people show strong evidences of Malay 
origin, 2 and claim that the present Emperor, for in= 

1 " Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," by Miss Bird (now Mrs. Bishop), 
is interesting and reliable in its treatment of the Ainu of that 
day. Chamberlain also has written on the "Ainos." The best 
single book is, of course, " The Ainu of Japan," by Eev. J. 
Batchelor, the leading authority, who has also written a book 
on "Ainu Eolk-lore." 

2 "Various Impressions" is the title of an address delivered 
at a meeting of the Imperial Education Society by Dr. Mtobe, 
reported very fully in the Kyoiku Kohd. Dr. Nitobe gave an 
account of his travels in the South Pacific. He visited Java, 
many other islands, and Australia. At Java he felt persuaded 
that an eminent French ethnologist who not long ago said that, as 
the result of much investigation, he had come to the conclusion 
that the Japanese race was %o Malay, %o Mongolian, and %o mixed, 
was right. Among the mixed elements there was an Aryan ele- 
ment, which came from India, and a negrito element. " Now it is 
supposed," says Dr. Mtobe, " that this negrito element comes from 
the Javanese. It no longer shows itself in the Japanese in regard 
to the form of the nose and that of the cheek-bones, but it is to be 
seen in the curly hair of certain inhabitants of Kyiishiu. In Oshu, 
from which I come, this peculiarity is not known. During my 
travels in the South Pacific Islands I was repeatedly struck by 



46 A HANDBOOK OF MODEKN JAPAN" 

stance, is of a striking Malay type. It is not im- 
possible, nor even improbable, that Malays were 
borne on the "Japan Current" northward from 
their tropical abodes to the Japanese islands; but 
there is no historical record of such a movement. 
Therefore the best authorities, like Rein and Baelz, 
do not acknowledge more than slight traces of 
Malay influence. A more recent theory concerning 
the origin of the real Japanese — or Yamato men, as 
they called themselves — is that they are descendants 
of the Hittites, whose capital was Hamath, or Yamath, 
or Yamato. 

There are two distinct types of Japanese: the 
oval-faced, narrow-eyed, small aristocratic class; 
and the pudding-faced, full-eyed, flat-nosed, stout 
common people. Of these, the latter is the one 
claimed to be Malay. The plebeians, having always 
been accustomed to hard labor by the sweat of the 
brow, are comparatively strong; the others, having 
been developed by centuries of an inactive life, have 
inherited weak constitutions. Indeed, the people, as 
a whole, are subject to early maturity and early decay. 
There is a Japanese proverb to this effect : " At ten, 
a god-like child ; at twenty, a clever man ; from twenty- 
five on, an ordinary man." And, in spite of the fact 
that there have been remarkable exceptions to this 
rule, careful investigation by Japanese supports the 
truth of the proverb. And yet there seems to be no 

the similarity of Malay customs to our own. In the structure of 
their houses even this was very manifest." — Japan Mail. 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 47 

doubt that modern education and conditions of life 
show a gradual improvement in this respect. 

The average Japanese, compared with the average 
European or American, has a lower stature ^ with a 
long body and short legs. A good authority states 
that " the average stature of Japanese men is about 
the same as the average stature of European women " ; 
and that " the [Japanese] women are proportionately 
smaller." Some one has wittily called the Japanese 
"the diamond edition of humanity." 

The Japanese also weigh much less than Euro- 
peans. The average weight of young men of twenty 
years of age in Europe is about 144 pounds, while 
the average weight of the strongest young men of 
the suburban districts of Tokyo was only about 121 
pounds; which gives the European an advantage of 
23 pounds. 

The Japanese are very quick to learn. Their 
minds are strong in observation, perception, and 
memory, and weak in logic and abstraction. As 
born lovers of nature, they have well-trained powers 
of observation and perception, so that their minds 
turn readily to scientific pursuits. And as the an- 
cient Japanese system of education followed Chinese 
models, the power of memorizing by rote has been 
strongly developed, so that the Japanese mind has 
little difficulty in becoming a storehouse of historical 
and other facts. But, as the powers of reasoning 
and abstraction have not been well trained, the 

1 Dr. Baelz estimates the average stature at about 5 feet. 



48 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Japanese do not take so readily to mathematical 
problems and metaphysical theorems. 

The typical Japanese is loyal, filial, respectful, 
obedient, faithful, kind, gentle, courteous, unselfish, 
generous.^ His besetting sins are deception, intem- 
perance, debauchery, — and these are common sins 
of humanity. In respect to these evils, he is un- 
moral rather than immoral; and in his case these 
sins should not be considered so heinous as in the 
case of one who has been taught and knows better. ^ 
And it is with reference to these very evils that 
Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism have been a 
complete failure in Japan, and that Christianity is 
making its impress upon the nation. 

There never were distinct and rigid castes in Japan, 
as in Egypt and India, but formerly there were four 
classes in society. These were, in order, the official 
and military class; the agricultural class, or the 
farmers ; the laboring class, or the artisans ; and the 
mercantile class, or merchants. Above all these were 
the Emperor and the Imperial family ; below all these 
were the tanners, grave-diggers, beggars, etc. , who were 
the Japanese pariah, or outcasts. The first class in- 
cluded the court nobility, the feudal lords, and their 
knights; they alone were permitted to carry two 
swords, were exempt from taxation, and were also 
the special educated and literary class, because they 

1 See also subsequent chapter on " Japanese Traits." 

2 His is simply a case of what is called "undeveloped moral 
consciousness." 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 49 

had the most leisure for study. The other three classes 
together constituted the common people, who were 
kept in rigid subjection and bled profusely by taxes. 

Under the present regime there are three general 
classes of the entire population of Japan: the no- 
bility, the gentry, and the common people. The 
nobility, created in 1884, comprises five orders: 
prince, marquis, count, viscount, and baron; the 
gentry are the descendants of the knights (sarmirai) 
of the old first class; the common people include all 
the rest of the population. By the census of 1898 
the nobility numbered 4,551; the gentry, 2,105,698; 
and the common people, 41,652,904. (These figures 
are exclusive of Formosa.) Even now the burden 
of taxation falls upon the mass of the common 
people, especially upon the farming class, for the 
land tax is the most important source of revenue in 
Japan. 

The fundamental principle of Japanese society was, 
and still is, reverent obedience to superiors. This 
polite and humble deference is exhibited in their 
language and in their manners and customs, and has 
become so thoroughly incorporated into their natures 
that it even yet resists the levelling tendency of the 
present age. The language is full of honorifics to 
be applied to or concerning another, and of humilifics 
to be applied concerning self. I and mine are thus 
always ignorant, stupid, dirty, homely, insignificant, 
etc., while you and yours are ever intelligent, wise, 
clean, beautiful, noble, etc. Perhaps there is noth- 
4 



50 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

ing tliat causes the student of the vernacular deeper 
chagrin than to find that he has made so serious an 
error as to transpose the humble and the honorific 
words or phrases ! The ordinary salutation is really 
an obeisance, as it consists of a profound bow, — on 
the street with body bent half forward, in the house 
with forehead touching the floor. This deep and 
universal feeling of reverence for superiors and elders 
early developed into worship, both of the family and 
of the national ancestors. This is the fundamental 
and central idea of Shinto, the native cult, of which 
more will be written in a subsequent chapter. 

The Japanese family^ was, in its constitution, an 
empire, with absolute authority in the hands of one 
man. The husband was, theoretically and prac- 
tically, the great authority to whom wife and chil- 
dren were subject. He was a veritable autocrat and 
despot; and he received superciliously the homage 
of all the family, who literally bowed down before 
him. The family, and not the individual, was the 
unit of society; but by the new codes now in opera- 
tion the individual has acquired greater rights. There 
is much hope, therefore, that gradually the tyranny 
of the family will be eliminated. 

One writer on Japan has well said : " The Empire 
is one great family; the family is a little empire. "^ 
In truth, the empire is founded and maintained on 

1 See Transactions Japan Society, London, vol. ii., papers by 
Goh and Aston. 

2 See Lowell's " Soul of the Far East," chap. ii. 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 51 

the family idea of one line " in unbroken succession " 
from Jimmu Tenno. 

A house alone does not make a "home," but 
merely gives it local habitation; and as Japanese 
houses 1 are unique, they deserve some consideration. 
Although brick and stone are coming into use among 
the wealthy classes, wood is the chief material em- 
ployed in building. A typical Japanese house is a 
slight and flimsy frame structure with straw-thatched, 
or shingled, or tiled roof. It has no foundation in 
the ground, but rests on stones laid on the ground, 
and stands wholly above the surface. This and other 
peculiar features of construction and ornamentation 
are the outcome of attempts to lessen the dangers 
from the frequent and severe earthquakes. The 
outer doors and windows of Japanese houses are 
called amado (rain-doors), and are solid wood. 
They slide in grooves above and below; in stormy 
weather and at night they are closed and fastened, 
not so tightly, however, as to prevent them from 
rattling; at other times they are open. The inner 
doors, the windows, and sometimes the partitions 
between the different rooms are lattice frames, cov- 
ered with a translucent, but not transparent, white 
paper, and running in grooves. These, too, as well 
as the opaque paper screens used between the rooms, 
can be taken out, so that all the rooms may be turned 
into one, or the entire house be thrown open to the 
air of heaven. The floors are covered with tatami — • 

1 Morse's "Japanese Homes" is the one book on this subject. 



52 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

thick, soft mats of straw, each usually six by three 
feet in size. Thus the accommodations of rooms are 
indicated by the terms, "six-mat room," "eight-mat 
room," etc. Inasmuch as on these mats the Japanese 
walk, sit, eat, work, sleep, it is necessary to keep 
them very clean. They are carpet, chair, sofa, bed, 
table, all in one, and must not be soiled by dirty 
sandals, clogs, shoes, or boots, all of which are, 
therefore, to be removed before entering a house. 
It may readily be seen that this is quite an incon- 
venient custom for foreigners! 

Schools, churches, offices, stores, and other places 
for large and frequent public gatherings are being 
constructed in Occidental style, with doors on 
hinges, glass windows, chairs, benches, tables, stoves, 
grates, and other "modern conveniences." 

A room in a Japanese house seems to an American 
to be comparatively bare and plain, as it is devoid 
of furniture and bric-a-brac. There is no stove, for 
only a small box or brazier, containing a few pieces 
of charcoal in a bed of ashes, is used for heating 
purposes. There are no chairs or sofas, for the 
Japanese sit on their feet on the floor. There are 
no huge bed sets, for they sleep on thick padded 
quilts spread on the floor at night, and kept in a 
closet when not needed. There is no large dining- 
table, for each person eats sitting before a small, low 
lacquer tray, or table, about a foot high. There is 
no dazzling array of pictures and other ornaments on 
the wall — only a kakemono (wall banner) or two; 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, POOD, DEESS 53 

and there are no miscellaneous ornaments set around 
here and there — only a vase of flowers. 

But more and more are the Japanese coming to 
build at least parts of the house in Occidental style, 
so that it is now quite common to find, in houses of 
well-to-do people, a foreign room with carpet, table, 
chairs, pictures, etc. Stoves and grates, too, for 
either wood or coal, are being largely used. Mat- 
tresses, springs, and bedsteads are also coming into 
use, because sleeping on the floor, where one is 
subject to draughts, has been found to be un- 
healthy. In the case of foreign rooms, moreover, 
it is generally unnecessary to take off the shoes; 
and thus another frequent cause of colds is re- 
moved. A prevailing style of architecture at present 
is the hybrid ! 

The best rooms of a Japanese house are not in the 
front, but in the rear, and have an outlook upon the 
garden, which likewise, from its plainness and sim- 
plicity, is unique. "Its artistic purpose is to copy 
faithfully the attractions of a veritable landscape, 
and to carry the real impressions that a real land- 
scape communicates. It is, therefore, at once a pic- 
ture and a poem ; perhaps even more a poem than a 
picture." It is in Japan, moreover, that it is pos- 
sible to have a "garden" without flowers or grass — 
with, perhaps, only "rocks and pebbles and sand." 
For the Japanese truly and literally find " sermons in 
stones," and give them not only "character" but also 
"tones and values." More than all that, "they held 



54 A HANDBOOK OF MODEEN JAPAN 

it possible to express moral lessons in the design of 
a garden, and abstract ideas, such as charity, faith, 
piety, content, calm, and connubial bliss." In Japan, 
therefore, landscape-gardening is and always has been 
a fine art.^ 

The Japanese may be called vegetarians, for it is 
only within a recent period that meat has come to 
play any part in their diet. Fish, flesh, and fowl 
were once strictly forbidden as articles of food by 
the tenets of Buddhism, but gradually, one after 
another, came to be allowed as eatables. Even now 
meat, though becoming more and more popular as 
an article of diet, is not used in large quantities at 
one meal. Chicken, game, beef, ham, and pork may 
be found on sale in most large towns and cities. But 
beef is cut up into mouthfuls, and sold to Japanese 
by the ounce; chickens are carefully and minutely 
dissected, and sold by parts, as the wing, the leg, or 
an ounce or two of the breast. It was a matter of 
great amazement to the Japanese of Mito that the 
foreigners living there bought a whole chicken or 
two, or five or six pounds of beef, at one time, and 
devoured them all in two or three meals! 

Rice is, of course, the staple article of diet, " the 
staff of life " of the Japanese ; and yet, in poverty- 
stricken country districts, this may be a luxury, with 

1 Besides Morse's "Japanese Homes," Conder's "Landscape- 
Gardening in Japan " (Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. 
xiv., and in book form, illustrated), is very valuable. An instruc- 
tive short description of this subject may be found in chap, xvi., 
vol. ii., of Hearn's " Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan." 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 55 

barley or millet as the ordinary food. Various vege- 
tables, particularly beans, are much used, fresh or 
pickled; seaweed, fish, eggs, and nuts are largely 
eaten; and a sauce, made of beans and wheat, and 
sold in America as "soy," is "the universal condi- 
ment." Thin vegetable soups are an important part 
of their meals, and, as no spoons are used, are drunk 
with a loud sucking noise, which is a fixed habit in 
drinking. The principal beverages, even more com- 
mon than water, are tea and sake. The latter, an 
alcoholic liquor brewed from rice, is taken hot; the 
former, without milk or sugar, is also taken hot, 
and is served, not only at meals, but just about 
all the time. A kettle of hot water is always kept 
ready at hand, in house or inn, so that tea may 
be steeped in a moment and procured to drink at 
any time. It is always set before a guest as soon 
as he arrives, and is absolutely indispensable in every 
household. 

At meal time each person sits on the floor before 
a small, low table on which his food is placed. They 
use no knife, fork, or spoon, only chop-sticks; and 
do not consider it in bad form to eat and drink with 
loud smacking and sucking sounds. Their food, 
when served, seems to foreigners more beautiful than 
palatable; it is "unsatisfying and mawkish." One 
who has probably had innumerable experiences dur- 
ing a long residence in Japan says : " After a Japanese 
dinner you have simultaneously a feeling of fulness 
and a feeling of having eaten nothing that will do 



56 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

you any good."^ Yet, in time foreigners learn to 
like many parts of a Japanese bill of fare ; and when 
travelling about the country, by carrying with them 
bread, butter, jam, and canned meats, can get along 
with rice, eggs, vegetables, and chicken or fish to 
complete the daily fare. In the summer resorts fre- 
quented by foreigners there are always hotels and 
restaurants where only European cooking is served. 
With the introduction of Western civilization came 
wine, ale, beer, etc., which are extensively used by 
the Japanese. 

Indeed, we must not fail to take notice of the 
change that is taking place in the diet of the Jap- 
anese. Bread and meat, which were long ago intro- 
duced into the diet of the army and the navy, are 
pretty generally popular ; and many other articles of 
" foreign food " are largely used. It is quite a com- 
mon custom in well-to-do families to have at least 
one "foreign meal" per day; and "foreign restau- 
rants," especially in the large cities, are well patron- 
ized. It is said, indeed, that first-class "foreign 
cooking" is cheaper than first-class "Japanese cook- 
ing." The standard of living has been considerably 
raised within the past decade. 

It is important to touch briefly on the subject of 
costume, though it will not be possible or profitable 
to describe minutely every garment. It may not be 

1 For descriptions of Japanese meals or banquets, see Miss 
Scidmore's " Jinrikisha Days in Japan," passim; "The Yankees 
of the East" (Curtis), vol. ii. chap. xiv. ; and Norman's "Real 
Japan," chap. i. 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 57 

improper to begin with the topic of undress ; for the 
Japanese, perhaps because great lovers of nature, 
think it nothing immodest to be seen, even in public, 
in the garb of nature. Of course, in the open ports 
and large cities, foreign ideas of modesty are more 
strongly enforced ; but in the interior the primitive 
innocence of the Garden of Eden prevails to a greater 
or less extent. In hot weather children go stark- 
naked, and men wear only a loin-cloth: ''^ Honi soit 
qui mal y pense''' — "Evil to him who evil thinks." 

The ordinary Japanese costume may be said to 
consist of a shirt, a loose silk gown fastened at the 
waist with a silk sash, short socks with separate 
places for the big toes, and either straw sandals or 
wooden clogs. For ceremonial occasions, " a divided 
skirt," and a silk coat, adorned with the family crest, 
are used; these are called, respectively, hakama and 
haori. In winter two or three padded gowns are 
added; and in all seasons many persons go bare- 
footed, bare-legged, and bare-headed. The female 
garb 1 does not differ greatly from the male costume, 
except that the sash is larger and richer and the 
gown is made of lighter fabrics. The women powder 
and paint, oil their hair, and adorn their heads with 
pretty combs and hairpins. 

The Japanese costume is certainly very beautiful 
and becoming, and is pronounced by medical authori- 
ties to be highly sanitary. For persons, however, in 
active business, and for those who work in the fields, 

1 See Norman's "Eeal Japan," pp. 180-195. 



58 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

it is not so convenient as the European costume ; but 
it is altogether too charming to be entirely discarded, 
and, with some modification, might well be adopted 
in other lands. At court, the European costume is 
generally used; the frock coat and evening dress 
have become common ceremonial garbs; and silk 
hats, gloves, and canes also have become fashionable. 
The efforts of the Japanese to adopt Western cus- 
toms and to conform to the usages of the Occident 
in matters of dress are sometimes quite amusing to 
those who witness them.^ 

Chamberlain affirms that "cleanliness is one of 
the few original items of Japanese civilization." 
Surely their practice of frequent bathing ought to 
have brought them to that stage which is considered 
"next to godliness." A bathroom is commonly an 
important part of the house; but if a room is not 
available for that purpose, a bathtub outdoors will 
do, or the public bath-houses afford every facility 
at a very small charge. Necessary exposure of the 
person in connection with bathing is not considered 
immodest ; but, in large cities at least, the two sexes 
are no longer permitted to bathe together promiscu- 
ously. The hot baths, with water at about 110° F., 
are generally unendurable by foreigners. The latter, 

1 Tor instance, "such an attire as Japanese clogs, flannel 
drawers, swallow-tail coat, and opera hat " has been seen ; and 
another witness testifies to the "oddest mixtures of evening dress 
and bathing suits, naked legs with a blouse and a foreign hat, high 
boots with a kimono, legs and head Asiatic with trunk European, 
or vice versa, with endless combinations and yariations." There 
is a great variety, with all kinds of fits and misfits. 



PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS 59 

however, after some experience, may become accus- 
tomed to such heat and find it quite healthy. " Sea- 
bathing was not formerly much practised ; but since 
1885 the upper classes have taken greatly to it, in 
imitation of European usage, and the coast is now 
dotted with bathing establishments."^ The Jap- 
anese also resort "to an almost incredible extreme" 
to the hot mineral springs, which are so numerous 
in Japan and generally possess excellent medicinal 
qualities. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Rein's "Japan" is valuable on these topics; "Advance 
Japan " has a good chapter on " Diet, Dress, and Manners " 
(iv.) ; " A Japanese Interior," by Miss Alice M. Bacon, gives 
most interesting glimpses of the inner life of the people ; Mur- 
ray's "Story of Japan," chap, ii.; Knapp's "Feudal and 
Modern Japan," vol. i. chap. v. and vol. ii. chap, iv.; and 
"Japan in History, Folklore, and Art" (Griffis), are useful; 
Finck in his "Lotos-Time in Japan," also gives interesting 
glimpses of these topics; and Miss Bacon's "Japanese Girls 
and Women " (revised and illustrated edition) is invaluable 
concerning family life. Miss Hartshorne's "Japan and her 
People " is worth reading on these subjects. 

1 Chamberlain. 



CHAPTER V 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

Outline of Topics : Birth and birthdays ; marriage ; death 
and funeral ; mourning. — Holidays (national, local, class, and 
religious); the "five festivals"; New Year's holidays; the other 
four festivals ; floral festivals ; religious festivals. — Games ; wrest- 
ling. — Theatre ; scenery and wardrobes ; chorus and pantomime ; 
the No. — Music ; dancing-girls. — Occidentalization. — Eolk-lore ; 
superstitions about lucky and unlucky days, hours, ages, years, etc. 
— Bibliography. 

THE three great events in the career of a 
Japanese are, of course, birth, marriage, 
and death, each of which , is, therefore 
celebrated with much formality. When a child is 
born, he or she is the recipient of many presents, 
which, however, create an obligation that must 
eventually be cleared off. A very common but 
honorable present on such an occasion consists of 
eggs in small or large quantities, according to cir- 
cumstances. When the first American baby was 
born in Mito, she was favored with a total of 456 
eggs, besides dried fish, toys, Japanese robes, and 
other articles of clothing, etc., and her parents were 
favored with universal congratulations, diluted with 
condolences because the new baby was a girl instead 
of a boy! Japanese babyhood is blithesome.^ 

1 " The Wee Ones of Japan," by Mae St. John Bramhall, can be 
recommended. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 61 

The birthday of an individual, however, is not 
especially observed upon its recurring anniversary; 
for New Year's Day is a kind of national, or uni- 
versal, birthday, from which age is reckoned. And 
this loss of an individual birthday is also made up 
to the boys and girls by the two special festivals, 
hereafter described, of Dolls and of Flags. 

The wedding ceremony ^ is quite simple but very 
formal. The principal feature thereof is the san- 
san-hu-do (three-three-nine-times) ; that is, both the 
bride and the bridegroom drink three times out of 
each of three cups of different sizes. This cere- 
mony, however, does not affect at all the validity 
of the marriage ; it is purely a social affair, of prac- 
tically no more importance than the wedding recep- 
tion in America or England. In Christian circles 
this convivial ceremony is omitted, and a rite per- 
formed by a Christian minister is substituted. As 
marriage is only a civil contract, its legality rests 
upon the official registration of the couple as hus- 
band and wife; and this formality is often neg- 
lected, so that divorce is easy and frequent. And 
as "matches" are generally made by parents, 
guardians, relatives, or friends, the mariage de 
convenance prevails in Japan. But the new Civil 
Code throws safeguards around the institution of 
wedlock; and the teachings of Christianity have 
already caused considerable improvement in the 

1 See Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, toI. xiii. pp. 114-137 ; 
and " A Japanese Bride," by Rey. N. Tamura, is admirable. 



62 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

way of elevating marriage from its low standard to 
a holy rite. 

To the fatalistic Japanese death has no terrors, 
especially as they are a people who seem to take 
about as much care of the dead as of the living. 
Funeral ceremonies ^ are very elaborate, expensive, 
solemn, and yet somewhat boisterous affairs. The 
Shinto rites are much plainer than Buddhist cere- 
monies. In the former, the coffin is long and low, 
as in the West, but in the latter it is small and 
square, so that the corpse "is fitted into it in a 
squatting posture with the head bent to the knees." 
There are other distinguishing features of the two 
funerals : the bare shaven heads of Buddhist priests in 
contrast with the non-shaven heads of Shinto priests; 
the dark blue coats of the Buddhist pall-bearers in 
contrast with the plain white garb of the Shinto 
pall-bearers. 

The mourning code of Japan is rather strict, and 
contains two features : the wearing of mourning gar- 
ments (which are white), and the abstinence from 
animal food. The regular dates for visits to the 
grave are the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, thirty- 
fifth, forty-ninth, and one-hundredth days, and the 
first, third, seventh, thirteenth, twenty-third, twenty- 
seventh, thirty-third, thirty-seventh, fiftieth, and 
one-hundredth years. 

As is shown in another chapter (" Japanese Traits "), 
the Japanese are a merry, vivacious, pleasure -loving 

1 See Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xix. pp. 507-544. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 63 

people, who are satisfied with a simple life. They 
give and take frequent holidays, which they enjoy 
to the fullest extent. The national holidays are 
numerous, and come as follows every year : — 

Four Sides' Worship, January 1. 

First Beginning Festival, January 3. 

Emperor Komei's Festival, January 30. 

Xigen-setsic, February 11. 

Spring Festival, March 22 (about). 

Jimmu Tenno Festival, April 3. 

Autumn Festival, September 24 (about). 

Kanname Festival, October 17. 

Emperor's Birthday, November 3. 

Niiname Festival, November 23. 

Some of the national holidays need a few words of 
explanation. Xigen-setsu, for instance, was originally 
a festival in honor of the ascension of Jimmu, the 
first Emperor, to the throne, and was thus the anni- 
versary of the establishment of the Old Empire ; but 
it is now observed also as the celebration of the pro- 
mulgation of the constitution (Feb. 11, 1889), and 
is thus the anniversary of the establishment of the 
New Empire. The Jimmu Tenno Festival of April 3 
is the so-called anniversary of the death of that Em- 
peror. The Kanname Festival in October celebrates 
the offering of first-fruits to the ancestral deities, and 
the Niiname Festival in November celebrates the 
tasting of those first-fruits by the Emperor. The 
Spring and Autumn Festivals in March and Sep- 
tember are adaptations of the Buddhist equinoctial 



64 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

festivals of the dead, and are especially observed for 
the worship of the Imperial ancestors. The Em- 
peror Komei was the father of the present Emperor, 
and reigned from 184T to 1867. "Four Sides' Wor- 
ship " naturally suggests worship from the four prin- 
cipal directions. This and the "First Beginning 
Festival " make the special New Yeai's holidays. 

Besides these, there are a great many local, class, 
and religious holidays, including Sunday, so that 
comparatively few persons in Japan are kept under 
high pressure, but almost every one has frequent 
opportunities to relax from the tension of his occu- 
pation or profession. Even the poorest, who have 
to be content with a hand-to-mouth existence, take 
their occasional holidays. 

The five great festivals of the year fall on the 
first day of the first month (New Year's Day), the 
third day of the third month (Dolls' Festival), 
the fifth day of the fifth month (Feast of the Flags), 
the seventh day of the seventh month (Festival of the 
Star Vega), and the ninth day of the ninth month 
(Chrysanthemum Festival). These are now officially 
observed according to the Gregorian calendar, but 
may also be popularly celebrated according to the 
old lunar calendar, and would then fall from three 
to seven weeks later. And there are not a few 
people who are perfectly willing to observe both 
calendars and thus double their number of holi- 
days ! 

The greatest of these is the New Year's holiday 



HANKERS AND CUSTOMS 65 

or season, which is often prolonged to three, five, 
seven, or even fifteen days. The practice of mak- 
ing calls and presents still prevails, and, though 
quite burdensome, illustrates the thoughtfulness, good 
cheer, and generosity of the people.^ 

The Dolls' Festival is the one especially devoted 
to the girls; and the Feast of Flags is set apart 
for the boys. The Festival of the Star Vega com- 
memorates a tradition concerning two starry lovers on 
opposite sides of the Milky Way, or River of Heaven. 
The Chrysanthemum Festival seems to have been 
overshadowed by the Emperor's Birthday. 

There are also many "flower festivals," such as 
those of viewing the plum, cherry, wistaria, iris, 
morning-glory, lotus, maple, etc.^ 

One of the most important of the Buddhist festi- 
vals is that in honor of the spirits of the dead ; it is 
called Bon-matsuri and comes in the middle of July. 
Buddha's birthday in April is also observed. There 
is a Japanese Memorial Day, celebrated twice a year 
in May and November, when immense crowds flock 
to the shrines called Shokonsha, and pay their homage 
to the spirits of those who have died for their coun- 
try. Moreover, space would fail to tell of the numer- 
ous local shrines and temples, Shinto and Buddhist, 
where the people flock annually or semi-annually, to 
" worship " a few minutes and enjoy a picnic for the 
remainder of the day. And, in Christian circles, 

1 See chap. xx. of Hearn's " Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan." 

2 See Appendix. 

5 



66 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Christmas, Easter, and Sunday-school picnics are im- 
portant and interesting occasions. 

The common games are chess, go (a very compli- 
cated game slightly resembling checkers), parchesi, 
and cards. Flower-cards and poetical quotations are 
old-style, but still popular; while Occidental cards, 
under the name of torompu ("trump") are coming 
into general use. Children find great amusement 
also with kites, tops, battledore and shuttlecock, 
snow-men, dolls, cards, etc.^ The chief sports of 
young men are wrestling, rowing, tennis, and base- 
ball. In the great American game they have be- 
come so proficient that they frequently win against 
the Americans and British who make up the base- 
ball club of the Yokohama Athletic Association ! 

Professional wrestling-matches ^ continue to draw 
large crowds to see the huge masses of flesh measure 
their strength and skill. Jujutsu is a kind of wrest- 
ling in which skill and dexterity are more important 
than mere physical strength. Sleight-of-hand per- 
formers and acrobats are quite popular. 

The theatre 2 is a very important feature in the 
Japanese world of amusements, and still remains 
about the only place where Old Japan can be well 
studied. Theatrical performances in Japan are, of 
course, quite different from those in the Occident, and 
seem very tedious to Westerners, partly because they 

1 See chapter on "Children's Games and Sports" in "The 
Mikado's Empire," and Mrs. Chaplin Ayrton's " Child-Life in 
Japan." 

2 See chap. xx. of " The Yankees of the East " (Curtis). 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 67 

are so long and partly because they are unintelligible. 
When the writer attended the theatre in Mito, the 
play began, thirty minutes late, at 3:30 P. m., and 
continued, without interruption, until almost mid- 
night. Then, according to custom, a short supple- 
mentary play of almost an hour's duration followed, 
so that it was about one o'clock when he finally 
reached home. The Japanese, however, are accus- 
tomed to this "sweetness long drawn out," and 
either bring their lunches or slip out between acts 
to get something to eat and drink, or buy tea and 
cake in the theatre. 

The wardrobes and the scenery are elaborate and 
magnificent. The former are often almost priceless 
heirlooms handed down from one generation to an- 
other. Changes of wardrobe are often made in the 
presence of the audience ; an actor, by dropping off 
one robe (which is immediately carried away by a 
small boy), entirely metamorphoses his appearance. 
One convenient arrangement of the scenery is that 
of the revolving stage, so that, as an old scene grad- 
ually disappears, the new one is coming into view. 
The supernumeraries, moreover, though theoretically 
invisible, are distinctly present, but seem to distract 
neither players nor audience. The female parts are 
usually taken by men dressed as women ; and animals 
are represented by either men or wooden models. 

The orchestra plays an exceedingly important part 
in a Japanese drama. It consists of the samisen 
(a guitar of three strings), the fiie (flute), and the 



68 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

taiko (drum). It plays, not between the acts to en- 
tertain the spectators, but, like the Greek chorus, 
during the scene, to direct and explain the drama. 
Pantomime is an important element in the play and 
exceedingly expressive. The pantomimic actions are 
guided by the orchestra and the singers of the chants 
that furnish necessary explanations. Japanese plays 
are mostly historical, though some depict life and 
manners. It is quite interesting to note that in 1903 
an adapted translation of " Othello " was put on the 
Japanese stage with marked success. 

The No "dances," as they are sometimes called, 
were at first " purely religious performances, intended 
to propitiate the chief deities of the Shinto religion, 
and were acted exclusively in connection with their 
shrines." But they were afterwards secularized and 
popularized, as lyric dramas. They are compara- 
tively brief, and occupy only about an hour in per- 
forming. They are now given chiefly as special 
entertainments in high society or court circles to 
extraordinary guests. ^ 

Music, especially in connection with dancing, fur- 
nishes another common means of amusement. The 
chief instruments of the old style are the koto^ a kind 
of lyre ; the samisen, already described ; the kokyu^ a 
sort of fiddle; lutes, flutes, fifes, drums, etc.; while 
the violin, organ, and piano are coming into general 

1 On the subject of the Japanese theatre and drama, see 
McClatchie's "Japanese Plays" and Edwards's "Japanese Plays 
and Playfellows." 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 69 

use. These instruments, moreover, are now being 
manufactured by the Japanese. Individuals, bands, 
and orchestras, trained under foreign supervision, fur- 
nish music, both instrumental and vocal, for private 
and public entertainments ; and concerts in European 
style are becoming very popular. 

It used to be that no evening entertainment 
was considered complete without the dancing-girls 
(^geisha), '^ whose presence is never conducive to 
morality. But a strong effort is now being made, 
even in non-Christian circles, to banish these evil 
features of social entertainments. The Occidental 
mixed dances have not yet met with great favor, 
except that in the court circle, which is cosmopoli- 
tan, quadrilles, waltzes, etc., are encouraged. 

The manners and customs, especially in the large 
cities, are undergoing considerable Occidentalizing, 
which results at first in an amusing mixture, or a 
queer hybrid. This is particularly true of social 
functions in official or high life. It is, of course, 
true that the great mass of the people, the "lower 
classes," are not yet to any great extent affected by 
the social changes in the world above their reach 
and ken, and still conduct their social intercourse 
more Japonico, that is, in the approved methods of 
their ancestors; but in the life of the middle and 
upper classes, and especially in official functions, the 
influence of Occidental manners and customs is quite 
marked. ^ 

1 See Norman's " Eeal Japan," chap. ix. ^ ggg Appendix. 



70 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Japanese literature is immensely rich in stories of 
adventure, most interesting historical and biographi- 
cal incidents, folk-lore, and fairy tales. All of these 
are quite familiar to the Japanese child, whether 
boy or girl, whose mind feasts upon, and delights 
in, the heroic and the marvellous. The youth and 
the adults, also, are not at all averse to such mental 
pabulum, and flock, for instance, to the hall of 
the professional story-teller, who regales them with 
fact and fiction ingeniously blended. Yoshitsune, 
Benkei, Momotaro, Kintaro, and others are common 
heroes of folk-lore and fiction ; while " The Tongue- 
Cut Sparrow," " The Matsuyama Mirror," " The Man 
who Made Trees Bloom," are examples of hundreds 
of popular fairy tales. Japanese folk-lore is an in- 
structive and most interesting subject, which must, 
however, be now dismissed with references. ^ 

To an audience of Athenians on Mars Hill, Paul 
said: "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all 
things ye are altogether superstitious." One might 
likewise stand before an audience of Japanese and 
say: "Ye men of Nippon, I perceive that in all 
things ye are altogether superstitious." For most 
faithfully and devoutly do the mass of the people 
still worship their innumerable deities, estimated with 
the indefinite expression " eight hundred myriads"; 

1 The best books on this subject are Mitford's "Tales of Old 
Japan," Miss Ballard's "Fairy Tales from Far Japan," and the 
series of crepe booklets of " Jajjanese Fairy Tales," published by 
the Kobunsha, Tokyo. See also author's papers in the " Folk-Lorist," 
vol. i. nos. 2, 3, 4. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 71 

and most firmly do they continue to believe in the 
efficacy of charms and amulets and to hold to in- 
herited superstitious ideas. It is only where the 
common school and Christianity have had full sway 
that these "foolish notions" disappear. And while 
we have not space for a methodical study of Japanese 
superstitions, we ought at least to present, even in 
a desultory manner, some illustrations, culled at 
random from various sources.^ 

The days of each month were named, not only in 
numerical order, but also according to the animals 
of the Chinese zodiac. And the latter names were 
perhaps more important than the numerical ones, 
because, according to these special names, a day was 
judged to be either lucky or unlucky for particular 
events. "Every day has its degree of luck for re- 
moval [from one place to another], and, indeed, 
according to another system, for actions of any kind ; 
for a day is presided over in succession by one of six 
stars which may make it lucky throughout or only at 
night, or in the forenoon or the afternoon, or ex- 
actly at noon, or absolutely unlucky. There are also 
special days on which marriages should take place, 
prayers are granted by the gods, stores should be 
opened, and signboards put up." Dr. Griffis in- 
forms us in "The Mikado's Empire," that "many 
people of the lower classes would not wash their 
heads or hair on ' the day of the horse, ' lest their 

1 See "Japanese Calendars," Transactions Asiatic Society of 
Japan, vol. xxx. part. i. 



72 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

hair become red." On the other hand, this "horse 
day " is sacred to Inari Sama, the rice-god, who em- 
ploys foxes as his messengers ; and " the day of the 
rat " is sacred to Daikoku, the god of wealth, who, in 
pictures, is always accompanied by that rodent. As 
for wedding days, Rev. N. Tamura says : " We think it 
is very unfortunate to be married on the 16th of Jan- 
uary, 20th of February, 4th of March, 18th of April, 
6th of May, 7th of June, 10th of July, 11th of August, 
9th of September, 3d of October, 25th of November, 
or 30th of December, also on the grandfather's or 
grandmother's death day." These dates are probably 
applicable to only the old calendar. " Seeds will not 
germinate if planted on certain days " (Griffis). 

The hours were named, not only according to the 
numerical plan, but also according to the heavenly 
menagerie in the following way : — 

1. Hour of the Eat . . . 11 p. m. - 1 a. m. 

2. Hour of the Ox 1-3 a. m. 

3. Hour of the Tiger 3-5 A. m. 

4. Hour of the Hare 5-7 a. m. 

6. Hour of the Dragon 7-9 A. m. 

6. Hour of the Serpent .... 9-11 A. m. 

7. Hour of the Horse . . 11 a. m.-I p. m. 

8. Hour of the Goat 1-3 p. m. 

9. Hour of the Monkey 3-5 p. m. 

10. Hour of the Cock 5-7 p. m. 

11. Hour of the Dog 7-9 p. m. 

12. Hour of the Boar 9-11 p. m. 

The "hour of the ox," by the way, being the time 
of sound sleep, was sacred to women crossed in love 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 73 

for taking vengeance upon a straw image of the 
recreant lover at the shrine of Fudo. 

" After 5 p. m. many people will not put on new 
clothes or sandals" (Griffis). From "Superstitious 
Japan ": "If one swallows seven grains of red beans 
(azuki) and one go of sake before the hour of the ox 
on the first day of the year, he will be free from 
sickness and calamity throughout the year; if he 
drinks toso (spiced sake') at the hour of the tiger of 
the same day, he will be untouched by malaria 
through the year. On the seventh day of the first 
month if a male swallows seven, and a female four- 
teen, red beans, they will be free from sickness all 
their lives ; if one bathes at the hour of the dog on 
the tenth day [of the same month], his teeth will 
become hard." 

There are also superstitions about ages. Some 
persons, for instance, "are averse to a marriage be- 
tween those whose ages differ by three or nine years. 
A man's nativity also influences the direction in 
which he should remove; and his age may permit 
his removal one year and absolutely forbid it the 
next." There are also critical years in a person's 
life, such as the seventh, twenty-fifth, forty-second, 
and sixty-first 1 years for a man, and the seventh, 
eighth, thirty -third, forty -second, and sixty -first ^ 
years for a woman. There is a similar story to the 
effect that a child born (or begotten?) in the father's 

1 The sixty-first year of a person's life is of special interest, 
because it is the first of a second cycle of sixty years. 



74 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

forty-third year is supposed to be possessed of a devil. 
When such a child is about one month old, it is, 
therefore, exposed for about three hours in some 
sacred place. Some member or friend of the family 
then goes to get it, and bringing it to the parents, 
says : " This is a child whom I have found and whom 
you had better take and bring up." Thus having 
fooled the devil, the parents receive their own child 
back. 

From Inouye's " Sketches of Tokyo Life " we learn 
that aged persons provide against failing memory by 
passing through seven different shrine gates on the 
spring or autumn equinox. An incantation against 
noxious insects, written with the infusion of India 
ink in liquorice water on the eighth day of the fourth 
moon, Buddha's birthday, will prevent the entrance 
of the insects at every doorway or window where it 
is posted. January 16 and July 16 were and are 
special holidays for servants and apprentices, and 
considered sacred to Emma, the god of Hades. At 
the time of the winter solstice doctors would wor- 
ship the Chinese Esculapius. "The foot-wear left 
outside on the night of the winter equinox should be 
thrown away; he who wears them will shorten his 
own life. If you cut a bamboo on a moonlight night, 
you will find a snake in the hollow of it between the 
third and fourth joints." "During an eclipse of 
the sun or moon, people carefully cover the wells, as 
they suppose that poison falls from the sky during 
the period of the obscuration." "If on the night of 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 75 

the second day of the first mooii, one dreams of the 
takara-hune (treasure-ship), he shall become a rich 
man." The first "dog day" and the third "dog 
day" in July are days for eating special cakes. 
" The third dog day is considered by the peasantry 
a turning-point in the life of the crops. Eels are 
eaten on any day of the bull [ox] that may occur 
during this period of greatest heat." The author 
was once warned by a Japanese woman that he must 
not take medicine or consult a doctor on New Year's 
Day, because such acts would portend a year of 
illness. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

There are many good books which portray the manners 
and customs of the Japanese people ; and as for magazine and 
newspaper articles on the subject, their name is legion. The 
works of Griffis, Chamberlain, Rein, Hearn, Lowell, Miss 
Bacon, Miss Scidmore, Miss Hartshorne, Mrs. Isabella Bird 
Bishop, and Mitford's "Tales of Old Japan" may be recom- 
mended. Good novels, like " Mito Yashiki " (Maclay), " Honda 
the Samurai " (Griffis), " In the Mikado's Service "(Griffis), etc., 
give an insight into Japanese life. This may suffice, as more 
particular references have been given in connection with many 
of the topics of the chapter. "A Japanese Boy" (Shigemi), 
"Japanese Girls and Women" (Miss Bacon), and "The Wee 
Ones of Japan " (Mrs. Bramhall) give good pictures of child-life. 



CHAPTER VI 
JAPANESE TRAITS 

Outline of Topics: First impressions: minuteness; polite- 
ness and courtesy; etiquette; simplicity; vivacity; equanimity; 
union of Stoicism and Epicureanism ; generosity ; unpracticality ; 
procrastination ; humility and conceit ; lack of originality ; fickle- 
ness ; asstheticism ; loyalty ; filial piety ; sentimental temperament ; 
susceptibility to impulse ; land and people. — Bibliography. 

FIRST impressions are, of course, often deceit- 
ful, as they are likely to be formed from 
merely superficial views ; but they are quite 
certain to emphasize the peculiar characteristics of 
a person or a people. The points of difference are 
very evident at first, but gradually become less ob- 
servable or prominent, and in time may scarcely be 
noticed. It is, of course, undeniable that first im- 
pressions must be more or less modified, but it is 
also true that some remain practically unchanged, or 
are verified and strengthened by long experience. 

In the case of the Japanese, for instance, a first 
and lasting impression is that of minuteness. This 
characteristic of " things Japanese " pertains less to 
quality than to quantity, is not a mental or a moral, 
so much as a physical or dimensional, feature. The 
empire, though called Dai Nippon (Great Japan) 



JAPANESE TRAITS 77 

is small; the people are short; the lanes are narrow; 
the houses are low and small; farms are insignifi- 
cant ; 1 teacups, other dishes, pipes, etc. , are like our 
toys; and innumerable other objects are Lilliputian. 
Pierre Loti, the French writer, in his description 
of Japanese life, draws extensively on the diminu- 
tives of his native tongue. In business matters, 
moreover, the Japanese seem incapable of managing 
big enterprises, and do everything on a small scale 
with a small capital. The saying that they are 
" great in little things and little in great things " 
contains some truth. But it must, in fairness, be 
acknowledged that, of recent years, the Japanese 
have begun to display a remarkable facility and suc- 
cess in the management of great enterprises. They 
are outgrowing this characteristic of smallness, and 
are even now reckoned among the "great world- 
powers." 

The Japanese are famous the world over for their 
politeness and courtesy; they are a nation of good 
manners, and, for this and other qualities, have 
been styled "the French of the Orient." From 
morning to night, from the cradle to the grave, the 
entire life is characterized by unvarying gentleness 
and politeness in word and act. Many of the ex- 
pressions and actions are mere formalities, it is true ; 
but they have, by centuries of hereditary influence, 

1 " The vast rice crop is raised on millions of tiny farms ; the 
silk crop in millions of small, poor homes ; the tea crop on count, 
less little patches of soil." — Lafcadio Hearn. 



78 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

been so far incorporated into the individual and 
national life as to be a second nature. This trait 
is one which most deeply impresses all visitors and 
residents, and concerning which Sir Edwin Arnold 
has written the following : — 

" Where else in the world does there exist such a con- 
spiracy to be agreeable ; such a widespread compact to 
render the diflBcult affairs of life as smooth and graceful 
as circumstances admit; such fair decrees of fine be- 
havior fixed and accomplished for all ; such universal re- 
straint of the coarser impulses of speech and act ; such 
pretty picturesqueness of daily existence; such lovely 
love of nature as the embellisher of that existence ; such 
sincere delight in beautiful, artistic things ; such frank 
enjoyment of the enjoyable ; such tenderness to little 
children ; such reverence for parents and old persons ; 
such widespread refinement of taste and habits ; such 
courtesy to strangers ; and such willingness to please 
and to be pleased ? " 

As stated above, the innate courtesy of the Japan- 
ese manifests itself in every possible way in word and 
deed. Thus has been developed an almost perfect 
code of etiquette, of polite speech and conduct for 
every possible occasion; and while these formali- 
ties are sometimes apparently unnecessary, often even 
a cloak for insincerity, and also a waste of time in 
this practical age, we cannot but lament the deca- 
dence of Japanese manners. 

Another prominent and prevailing element of 
Japanese civilization is simplicity. The people have 
the simplicity of nature to such an extent that the 



JAPANESE TRAITS 79 

garb of nature is not considered immodest. They 
find delight in the simplest forms of natural beauties, 
and they plant their standard of beauty on a simple 
base. A rough and gnarled tree, or even a mere 
trunk or stump; a bare twig or branch without 
leaves or blossoms; an old stone; all kinds of flowers 
and grasses have in themselves a real natural beauty. 
A Japanese admires the beauties of nature just as 
they are; he loves a flower as a flower. The Japan- 
ese truly worship Nature in all her varied forms 
and hold communion with all her aspects. They 
enjoy the simplest amusements with the simplest 
toys which, cheap and frail, may last only an hour, 
but easily yield their money's worth and more of 
real pleasure. They find the greatest happiness in 
such simple recreations as going to see the plum 
blossoms or cherry flowers, and gazing at the full 
moon. They are, in comparison with Americans, 
childish in their simplicity ; but they succeed in ex- 
tracting more solid enjoyment out of life than any 
other people on the globe. Americans sacrifice life 
to get a living: Japanese, by simply living, enjoy 
life. 

And this leads to another impression and char- 
acterization of the Japanese people as merry, light- 
hearted, and vivacious. Careless, even to an extreme ; 
free from worry and anxiety, because easily satisfied 
with little, and because inclined to be excessively 
fatalistic, — they not only are faithful disciples of 
the Epicurean philosophy, that happiness or pleasure 



80 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

is the summum honum of life, but they succeed in 
being happy without much exertion. They believe 
that men " by perpetual toil, bustle, and worry render 
themselves unfit to enjoy the pleasures which nature 
places within their reach " ; and that the Occidental, 
and especially the American, life of high pressure, 
with too much work and too little play, is actually 
making Jack a dull boy. It is certainly to be hoped, 
but perhaps in vain, that the increasing complexity 
of modern life in Japan will not entirely obliterate 
the simplicity and vivacity of the Japanese ; for they 
seem to " have verily solved the great problem — 
how to be happy though poor." 

The Japanese are, however, extremely stoical 
in belief and behavior, and can refrain as rigidly 
from manifestations of joy or sorrow as could a 
Spartan or a Roman. ^ Many a Japanese Leonidas, 
Brutus, or Cato stands forth as a typical hero in 
their annals. Without the least sign of suffering 
they can experience the severest torture, such as dis- 
embowelling themselves ; and without a word of com- 
plaint they receive adversity or affliction. Shikata 
ga nai (" There is no help ") is the stereotyped phrase 
of consolation from the least to the greatest loss, 
injury, or affliction. For a broken dish, a bruise, 
a broken limb, a business failure, a death, weeping 
is silly, sympathy is useless; alike for all, shikata 
ga nai. 

1 The Japanese seem to have no nerves ; or, at least, their 
nervous system is much less sensitive than ours. 



JAPANESE TRAITS 81 

It is possibly this combination or union of Stoicism 
and Epicureanism that makes the real and complete 
enjoyment of life. The following paragraph pictures 
graphically the contrasting characteristics of Japanese 
and American women : " It is said that the habitual 
serenity of Japanese women is due to their freedom 
from small worries. The fashion of their dress never 
varies, so they are saved much anxiety of mind on 
that subject. Housekeeping is simplified by the ab- 
sence of draperies and a crowd of ornaments to gather 
dust, and the custom of leaving footwear at the en- 
trance keeps out much mud and dirt. With all our 
boasted civilization, we may well learn from the 
Orientals how to prevent the little foxes of petty 
anxieties from spoiling the vines of our domestic 
comfort. If American housekeepers could eliminate 
from their lives some of the unnecessary care of 
things, it would probably smooth their brows and tone 
down the sharpened expression of their features." 

The Japanese are, by instinct, a very unselfish and 
generous people. These two seemingly synonymous 
adjectives are purposely used; for the Japanese 
possess, not only the negative and passive virtue of 
unselfishness, but also its positive and active expres- 
sion in generosity; they are not merely careless 
and thoughtless of self, but they are careful and 
thoughtful of others. In fact, their philanthropic 
instincts are so strong that neither excessive wealth 
nor extreme pauperism is prevalent. These two 
traits had their origin, probably, in a contempt for 



82 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

mere money-making and the lack of a strong desire 
for wealth. The merchant, engaged in trade, — that 
is, in money-making pursuits, — was ranked below 
the soldier, the farmer, and the artisan. The typical 
Japanese believed that "the love of money is the 
root of all evil," and was not actuated by "the 
accursed greed for gold" {auri sacra fames'). No 
sordid views of life on a cash basis were held by the 
Japanese, and not even the materialism of modern 
life has yet destroyed their generous and philan- 
thropic instincts. They are as truly altruistic as 
Occidentals are egoistic. 

The modern characteristic expressed by the term 
"practical" does not belong to the Japanese, who 
are rather visionary in disposition. This trait is un- 
doubtedly an effect of the old distaste for money- 
making pursuits, and renders the Japanese people, 
on the whole, incapable of attending strictly and 
carefully to the minutise of business. They do not, 
indeed, appear to possess the mental and moral quali- 
ties which go to make a successful merchant or busi- 
ness man.i This is the testimony both of those who 
have studied their psychological, natures and of those 
who have had actual business experience with them. 
The former say that unpracticality and a distaste for 
money-making are natural elements of the Japanese 
character, as is evidenced by the fact that, in ancient 
society, the merchant was assigned to the fourth 
class — below the soldier, the farmer, the artisan. 
1 See Baron Shibusawa's opinion, pp. 40-43. 




THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN AND THE PRINCE IMPERIAL 



JAPANESE TRAITS 83 

"The temperament, the training, and the necessary 
materials are, for the most part, lacking " ; and these 
cannot, in spite of the impressionableness of the 
Japanese nature, be readily acquired and developed. 
Business men, moreover, who have had actual deal- 
ings with the Japanese, complain of dishonesty, ^ 
"pettiness, constant shilly-shallying," and unbusi- 
ness-like habits ; and call them " good-natured, artistic, 
and all that, but muddle-pated folks when it comes 
to matters of business." 

One illustration of their natural incapacity for 
business life is found in the fact that they had no 
idea of time. They did not understand the value, 
according to our standards, of the minutes, and were 
much given to what we call a "waste of time." 
They were not accustomed to reckon time minute-]y, 
or to take into notice any period less than an hour, 
and considered it nine o'clock until it was ten o'clock. 
Moreover, the hour of the old "time-table " was 120 
minutes long.^ Besides, the Japanese are too digni- 

1 But " the peasantry is, in the main, honest." 

2 See "Japanese Calendars," Transactions Asiatic Society of 
Japan, vol. xxx. part i. 

The Land of Approximate Time. 

Here 's to the Land of Approximate Time ! 

Where nerves are a factor unknown, 
Where acting as balm are manners calm. 

And seeds of sweet patience are sown. 

Where every clock runs as it happens to please, 

And they never agree on their strikes ; 
Where even the sun often joins in the fun. 

And rises whenever he likes. — Jingles from Japan. 



84 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

fied to be in a hurry; so that, if they miss one train, 
they do not fume and fret because they have to wait 
even several hours for the next train, but take it all 
calmly and patiently. And as clocks and watches 
are still somewhat of a luxury to the common people, 
we must not expect them to come up at once to 
our ideas of strict punctuality. But in school and 
office and business they are learning habits of 
promptness and coming to realize that "time is 
money " ; so that recent years have shown a marked 
improvement. 

In the character of the Japanese are blended the 
two inharmonious elements of humility and conceit. 
Their language, customs, and manners are permeated 
with the idea of self-abasement, "in honor prefer- 
ring one another"; but their minds are filled with 
excessive vanity, individual and national. They call 
their own country "Great Japan," and have always 
had a strong faith in the reality of its greatness. The 
precocity and conceit of Japanese youth are very no- 
ticeable. A schoolboy of fourteen is always ready 
to express with confidence and positiveness his 
criticisms on Occidental and Oriental politics, phi- 
losophy, and religion. Young Japan, whether indi- 
vidually or collectively, is now in the Sophomore 
class of the World's University. Japan is self- 
assertive, self-confident, and independent. But the 
marvellous achievements in the transformation of 
Japan during the past half -century are some excuse 
for the development of vanity; and the future, 



JAPANESE TRAITS 85 

with its responsibilities, surely demands a measure 
of self-confidence. 

The Japanese are commonly criticised as being 
imitative rather than initiative or inventive; and 
it must be acknowledged that a study of their history 
bears out this criticism. The old civilization was 
very largely borrowed from the Chinese, perhaps 
through the Koreans; and in modern times we 
have witnessed a similar adoption and imitation of 
Occidental civilization. But it must also be borne 
in mind that in few cases was there servile imitation ; 
for, in almost every instance, there was an adapta- 
tion to the peculiar needs of Japan. And yet even 
this assimilation might show that the Japanese have 
" great talent, but little genius " (Munzinger), or 
"little creative power" (Rein). However, there 
have been indications of late years that the Japanese 
mind is developing inventive power. Originality is 
making itself known in many really remarkable in- 
ventions, especially along mechanical lines. Rifles, 
repeating pistols, smokeless gunpowder, guncotton, 
and bicycle boats are a few illustrations of Japanese 
inventions. Moreover, many of the Japanese inven- 
tors have secured letters patent in England, Ger- 
many, France, Austria, and the United States. In 
scientific discoveries, too, the Japanese are coming 
forward. 

The Japanese have also been frequently accused 
of fickleness, and during the past fifty years have cer- 
tainly furnished numerous reasons for such a charge. 



86 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

They have seemed to shift about with " every wind 
of doctrine," and, like the Athenians in Paul's day, 
have been often attracted by new things. But Den- 
ing's defence against this accusation is worthy of 
notice, and seems quite reasonable. He claims that 
"this peculiarity is accidental, not inherent"; that 
there was " no lack of permanence in their laws, in- 
stitutions, and pursuits in the days of their isola- 
tion "; that in recent times "their attention has been 
attracted by such a multitude of [new] things . . . 
that they have found great difiQculty in making a 
judicious selection"; and the rapid changes "have 
not been usually dictated by mere fickleness, but 
have resulted from the wish to prove all things.'''' 
Chamberlain, likewise, refers to so-called "charac- 
teristic traits " that are " characteristic merely of the 
stage through which the nation is now passing." 
And certainly a growing steadfastness of purpose 
and action is perceptible in many phases of Japanese 
life. 

The Japanese are pre-eminently an aesthetic people. 
In all sections, among all classes, art reigns supreme. 
It permeates everything, great or small. " Whatever 
these people fashion, from the toy of an hour to the 
triumphs of all time, is touched by a taste unknown 
elsewhere." ^ 

The national spirit is excessively strong in Japan, 
and has been made powerful by centuries of develop- 
ment. Every Japanese is born, lives, and dies for 

» For particulars on this point, see chapter on " Esthetic Japan." 



JAPANESE TRAITS 87 

his country. Loyalty is the highest virtue; and 
Yamato-damashii (Japan spirit) is a synonym too 
often of narrow and inordinate patriotism. But 
the vision of the Japanese is broadening, and they 
are learning that cosmopolitanism is not necessarily 
antagonistic to patriotism. They used to harp on 
" The Japan of the Japanese " ; later they began to 
talk about " The Japan of Asia " ; but now they wax 
eloquent over "The Japan of the World." 

Filial piety is the second virtue in the Japanese 
ethics, and is often carried to a silly extreme. The 
old custom of inkyo made it possible for parents, 
even while they were still able-bodied, to retire from 
active work and become an incubus on the eldest 
son, perhaps just starting out in his life career. 
But now there is a law that no one can become inhyo 
before he is sixty years of age. And yet filial piety 
can easily nullify the law I 

Professor George T. Ladd, who has made a special 
study of the Japanese from the psychological point of 
view, sums up their "character" as of the "senti- 
mental temperament. " ^ The following are sugges- 
tive passages : — 

" This distinctive Japanese temperament is that which 
Lotze has so happily called the ' sentimental tempera- 
ment.' It is the temperament characteristic of youth, 
predominatingly, in all races. It is, as a temperament, 
characteristic of all ages, of both sexes, and of all classes 
of population, among the Japanese. But, of course, in 

1 See " Scribner's Monthly " for January, 1595. 



88 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Japan as everywhere, the different ages, sexes, and 
classes of society, differ in respect to the purity of this 
temperamental distinction. Many important individual 
exceptions, or examples of other temperaments, also 
occur. 

" The distinguishing mark of the sentimental tempera- 
ment is great susceptibility to variety of influences — 
especially on the side of feeling, and independent of 
clear logical analysis or fixed and well-comprehended 
principles — with a tendency to a will that is impulsive 
and liable to collapse. Such susceptibility is likely to 
be accompanied by unusual difficulty in giving due 
weight to those practical considerations, which lead to 
compromises in politics, to steadiness in labor, to patience 
in developing the details of science and philosophy, and 
to the establishment of a firm connection between the 
higher life of thought and feeling and the details of 
daily conduct. On the other hand, it is the artistic 
temperament, the temperament which makes one 'in- 
teresting,' the 'clever' mind, the temperament which 
has a suggestion of genius at its command. . . . 

"Japan is the land of much natural scenery that is 
pre-eminently interesting and picturesque. It is the 
land of beautiful green mountains and of luxurious and 
highly variegated flora. It is the land that lends itself 
to art, to sentiment, to reverie and brooding over the 
mysteries of nature and of life. But it is also the land 
of volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and typhoons; the 
land under whose thin fair crust, or weird and gro- 
tesque superficial beauty, and in whose air and sur- 
rounding waters, the mightiest destructive forces of 
nature slumber and mutter, and betimes break forth 
with amazing destructive effect. As is the land, so — 
in many striking respects — are the people that dwell 
in it. The superficial observer, especially if he himself 



JAPANESE TRAITS 89 

be a victim of the unmixed sentimental temperament, 
may find everything interesting, aesthetically pleasing, 
promising continued kindness of feeling, and unwearied 
delightful politeness of address. Bat the more profound 
student will take note of the clear indications, that 
beneath this thin, fair crust, there are smouldering fires 
of national sentiment, uncontrolled by solid moral prin- 
ciple, and unguided by sound, practical judgment. As 
yet, however, we are confident in the larger hope for the 
future of this most ' interesting ' of Oriental races." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Rein's "Japan," "The Gist of Japan" (Peery), "Japan 
and its Regeneration " (Gary), " The Soul of the Far East " 
(Lowell), "Feudal and Modern Japan" (Knapp), "Lotos- 
Time in Japan " (Finck), and Hearn's works discuss the sub- 
ject of Japaoese characteristics with intelligence from various 
points of view. The most interesting and instructive Japanese 
writer on the subject is Nitobe in his " Bushido, the Soul of 
Japan." Dening's paper in vol. xix. Transactions Asiatic 
Society of Japan is very valuable. "The Evolution of the 
Japanese " (Gulick) should also be carefully studied, especially 
as he differs from Lowell and others, who contend that Ori- 
entals in general, and Japanese in particular, have no " soul," 
or distinct personahty. 



CHAPTER VII 
HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 

Outline of Topics : Outline of mythology and history ; sources 
of material ; earlier periods ; Japanese and Graeco-Koman mythol- 
ogy ; prehistoric period ; continental influences ; capitals ; Imperi- 
alism ; Fujiwara Epoch ; Taira and Minamoto ; H6j6 tyranny ; 
Ashikaga Period ; Nobunaga and Hideyoshi ; lyeyasu ; Tokugawa 
Dynasty. — Bibliography. 

THE mythology and history of Japan may be 
outlined in the following manner: — 
A. Sources of material. 

1. Oral tradition. 

2. Kojiki [711 A. D.]. 

3. Mhongi [720 a. d.]. 
B. Chronology. 

I. Old Japan. 

1. "Divine Ages." Creation of world; Izanagi and 
Izanami ; Sun-goddess and brother ; Ninigi ; Princes 
Fire-Shine and Fire-Fade ; Jimmu. 

2. Prehistoric Period [660 b. C.-400 (?) a. d.]. Jimmu 
Tenno; " Stijin, the Civilizer"; Yamato-Dake ; Em- 
press Jingu; Invasion of Korea; Ojin, deified as 
Hachiman, the Japanese Mars ; Take-no-uchi. Native 
elements of civilization. Chinese literature. 

3. Imperialistic Period [400 (?)-888 a. n. ] . Continental 
influences (on language and literature, learning, gov- 
ernment, manners and customs, and religion) ; Bud- 
dhism ; Shotoku Taishi ; practice of abdication ; Nara 



HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 91 

Epoch; capital settled at Kyoto; Sugawara; Fuji- 
wara family established in regency (888 a. d.). 

4. Civil Strife [888-1603 a. d.] . Fujiwara bureaucracy ; 
Taira supremacy (1156-1185) ; wars of red and white 
flags ; Yoritomo and Yoshitsune ; Minamoto suprem- 
acy (1185-1199) ; first Shogunate ; Hojo tyranny 
(1199-1333) ; Tartar armada ; Kusunoki and Nitta ; 
Ashikaga supremacy (1333-1573) ; " War of the 
Chrysanthemums"; tribute to China; fine arts 
and architecture ; cha-no-yu ; Portuguese ; Francis 
Xavier ; spread of Christianity ; Nobunaga, perse- 
cutor of Buddhists (1573-1582) ; Hideyoshi, "Na- 
poleon of Japan " (1585-1598) ; persecution of 
Christianity ; invasion of Korea ; lyeyasu ; battle 
of Sekigahara (1600 a. d.). 

5. Tokugawa Feudalism [1603-1868 a. d.]. lyeyasu 
Shogun (1603) ; capital Yedo, girdled by friendly 
fiefs : perfection of feudalism ; Dutch ; Will Adams ; 
English ; extermination of Christianity ; seclusion 
and crystallization (1638-1853) ; Confucian influences. 

II. New Japan. 
5 (continued). Perry's Expedition ; treaties with for- 
eign nations ; internal strife ; Eichardson affair ; 
Shimonoseki affair ; resignation of Shogun ; abolition 
of Shogunate ; Kevolutionary War ; New Imperialism ; 
Imperial capital Yedo, renamed Tokyo; Meiji Era. 

6. New Empire [1868- ]. Opening of ports and 
cities ; " Charter Oath " ; telegraphs, light-houses, 
postal system, mint, dockyard, etc. ; outcasts ac- 
knowledged as human beings ; abolition of feudalism ; 
first rail way, newspaper, and church ; Imperial Univer- 
sity ; Yokohama Missionary Conference ; Gregorian 
calendar ; anti-Christian edicts removed ; Saga rebel- 
lion ; Formosan Expedition ; assembly of governors ; 
Senate ; treaty with Korea ; Satsuma rebellion ; bi- 



92 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

metallism ; Loo Choo annexed ; new codes ; prefectural 
assemblies ; Bank of Japan ; Osaka Missionary Con- 
ference ; new nobility ; Japan Mail Steamship Com- 
pany ; Privy Council ; Prince Haru made Crown 
Prince ; anti-foreign reaction ; promulgation of Con- 
stitution ; first Diet ; Gifu earthquake ; war with 
China ; Formosa ; tariff revision ; gold standard ; 
freedom of press and public meetings ; opening of 
Japan by new treaties ; war with China : Tokyo 
Missionary Conference ; Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 

The student of Japanese history is confronted, at 
the outset, with a serious difficulty. In ancient 
times the Japanese had no literary script, so that 
all events had to be handed down from generation 
to generation by oral tradition. The art of writing 
was introduced into Japan, from China probably, in 
the latter part of the third century A. d. ; but it was 
not used for recording events until the beginning of 
the fifth century. All these early records, more- 
over, were destroyed by fire ; so that the only " reli- 
ance for information about . . . antiquity" has to 
be placed in the XojiM,'^ or "Records of Ancient 
Matters," and the Nihongi,^ or "Chronicles of 
Japan." The former, completed in 711 A. D., is 
written in a purer Japanese style ; the latter, finished 
in 720 A. D., is "much more tinctured with Chinese 
philosophy " ; though differing in some details, they 

1 Chamberlain's English version is found in Transactions Asiatic 
Society of Japan, vol. x., Supplement. 

2 Aston's English version is found in Transactions Japan Society, 
London, Supplement. 





FOUR GATES : PALACE, TOKYO ; PALACE, KYOTO ; 
SAKUEADA, T0KY5 ; NIJO CASTLE, KYOTO 



HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 93 

are practically concordant, and supply the data upon 
which the Japanese have constructed their " history. " 
It is thus evident that the accounts of the period 
before Christ must be largely mythological, and the 
records of the first four centuries of the Christian 
era must be a thorough mixture of fact and fiction, 
which it is difficult carefully to separate. 

According to Japanese chronology, the Empire of 
Japan was founded by Jimmu Tenno in 660 b. g. 
This was when Assyria, under Sardanapalus, was at 
the height of its power ; not long after the ten tribes 
of Israel had been carried into captivity, and soon 
after the reign of the good Hezekiah in Judah ; before 
Media had risen into prominence; a century later 
than Lycurgus, and a few decades before Draco; and 
during the period of the Roman kingdom- But 
according to a foreign scholar who has sifted the 
material at hand, the first absolutely authentic date 
in Japanese history is 461 A. d.,^ — just the time 
when the Saxons were settling in England. If, 
therefore, the Japanese are given the benefit of more 
than a century, there yet remains a millennium which 
falls under the sacrificial knife of the historical critic. 
But while we cannot accept unchallenged the details 
of about a thousand years, and cannot withhold sur- 
prise that even the Constitution of New Japan 
maintains the "exploded religious fiction" of the 
foundation of the empire, we must acknowledge that 
the Imperial family of Japan has formed the oldest 

1 See Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, voL xvi. pp. 39-75. 



94 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN" JAPAN 

continuous dynasty in the world, and can probably 
boast an "unbroken line" of eighteen or twenty 
centuries. 

1. " Divine Ages. " 

2. Prehistoric Period [660 B. C.-400 (?) A. d.]. 

Dr. Murray, in " The Story of Japan, " following 
the illustrious example of Arnold in Roman history, 
treats these more or less mythological periods in 
a reasonable way. He says: "Yet the events of 
the earlier period[s] . . . are capable, with due care 
and inspection, of furnishing important lessons and 
disclosing many facts in regard to the lives and 
characteristics of the primitive Japanese." These 
facts concerning the native elements of civilization 
pertain to the mode of government, which was 
feudal; to food, clothing, houses, arms, and imple- 
ments ; to plants and domestic and wild animals ; to 
modes of travel ; to reading and writing, as being un- 
known; to various manners and customs; to super- 
stitions; and to "religious notions," which found 
expression in Shinto, itself not strictly a "religion," 
but only a cult without a moral code. "Morals 
were invented by the Chinese because they were an 
immoral people ; but in Japan there was no necessity 
for any system of morals, as every Japanese acted 
rightly if he only consulted his own heart"! So 
asserts a Shinto apologist. And from the fact that 
so many myths cluster around Izumo, it is a natural 
inference that one migration of the ancestors of the 



HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 95 

Japanese from Korea landed in that province, while 
the legends relating to Izanagi and Izanami, the first 
male and female deities, since they find local habita- 
tion in Kyushiu, seem to indicate another migration 
(Korean or Malay?) to that locality. These differ- 
ent migrations are also supposed to account for the 
two distinct types of Japanese. 

The story of the creation of the world bears con- 
siderable resemblance to that related in Ovid's Meta- 
morphoses; and this is only one of many points of 
remarkable similarity between the mythology of Japan 
and the Grseco-Roman mythology. ^ And one famous 
incident in the career of the Sun-Goddess is evi- 
dently a myth of a solar eclipse. 

Although the Emperor Jimmu cannot be accepted 
as a truly historical personage, neither can he be 
entirely ignored, for he is still an important " char- 
acter " in Japanese " history " and continues to claim 
in his honor two national holidays (February 11 and 
April 3). And, just as Jimmu may be considered 
the Cyrus, or founder, of the Japanese Empire, so 
Sujin, "the Civilizer," may be called its Darius, or 
organizer. The Prince Yamato-Dake is a popular 
hero, whose wonderful exploits are still sung in prose 
and poetry. As for the Empress Jingu, or Jingo, 
although she is not included in the official list^ of 

^ There are, indeed, many striking resemblances between " things 
Japanese " of various kinds and the corresponding " things Graeco- 
Eomau." See " Japanesque Elements in ' The Last Days of Pom- 
peii ' " in the " Arena " for October, 1896. 

2 See Appendix, where will also be found a list of the year- 
periods, or eras. 



96 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

the rulers of the empire, she is considered a great 
heroine, and is especially famous for her successful 
invasion of Korea, assigned to about 200 a. d. And 
it is her son, Ojin, who, deified as Hachiman, is still 
"worshipped" as god of war; while Take-no-uchi is 
renowned for having served as Prime Minister to 
five Emperors and one Empress (Jingu). It was 
during this period that the Chinese language and 
literature, together with the art of writing, were in- 
troduced into Japan through Korea. 

3. Imperialistic Period [400(?)-888 A. D.]. 

The continental influences form an important fac- 
tor in the equation of Japanese civilization. The 
Japanese "have been from the beginning of their 
history a receptive people," and are indebted to 
Korea and China for the beginnings of language, 
literature, education, art, mental and moral philoso- 
phy (Confucianism), religion (Buddhism), and many 
social ideas. The conversion of the nation to Bud- 
dhism took place in the sixth and seventh centuries, 
and was largely due to the powerful influence of the 
Prime Minister of the Empress Suiko. He is best 
known by his posthumous title of Shotoku Taishi, 
and is also famous for having compiled "the first 
written law[s] in Japan." 

For a long period, on account of superstitions, the 
capital was frequently removed, so that Japan is said 
to have had "no less than sixty capitals." But dur- 
ing most of the eighth century the court was located 




STATESMEN OF NEW JAPAN 
PRINCE SANJO AND COUNT KATSU 



HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 97 

at Nara, which gave its name to that epoch ; and in 
794 A. D. the capital was permanently established at 
Kyoto. 

At first the government of Japan was an absolute 
monarchy, not only in name, but also in fact; for 
the authority of the Emperor was recognized and 
maintained, comparatively unimpaired, throughout 
the realm. But the decay of the Imperial power 
began quite early in "the Middle Ages of Japan," 
as Dr. Murray calls the period from about 700 to 
1184 A. D. The Emperors themselves, wearied with 
the restrained and dignified life which, as " descend- 
ants of the gods," they were obliged by etiquette to 
endure, preferred to abdicate; and in retirement 
"often wielded a greater influence and exerted a 
more active part in the administration of affairs." 
This practice of abdication frequently brought a 
youth, or even an infant, to the throne, and naturally 
transferred the real power to the subordinate admin- 
istrative officers. This was the way in which gra- 
datim the "duarchy," as it is sometimes called, was 
developed, and in which seriatim families and even 
individuals became prominent. 

4. Civil Strife [888-1603 a. d.]. 

Although actual warfare did not begin for a long 
period, the date of the appointment of a Fujiwara as 
Regent practically ended Imperialism and was the 
beginning of jealousy and strife. And yet the Fuji- 
wara Epoch was the "Elizabethan Age" of classical 



S/8 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

literature. But after that family had for about 400 
years "monopolized nearly all the important offices 
in the government," and from 888 had held the 
regency in hereditary tenure, it was finally deposed 
by the so-called "military families." 

The first of these was the Taira, who, after only 
a short period of power (1156-1185) through Kiyo- 
mori, were utterly overthrown in the "wars of the 
red and white flags," and practically annihilated in 
the great naval battle of Dan-no-ura. Next came 
the Minamoto, represented by Yoritomo,^ whose au- 
thority was further enhanced when the Emperor 
bestowed on him the highest military title, Sei-i- 
Tai-Shogun. And from this time (1192) till 1868 
the emperors were practical nonentities, and subor- 
dinates actually governed the empire. The Japan- 
ese Merovingians, however, were never deprived of 
their titular honor by their "Mayors of the Palace." 

But the successors of Yoritomo in the office of 
Shogun were young and sensual, and gladly relin- 
quished the executive duties to their guardians of 
the H5jo family, who, as regents, ruled " with 
resistless authority" and "unexampled cruelty and 
rapacity," but yet deserve credit for defeating (in 
1281) an invading force of Tartars sent by Kublai 
Khan. The great patriots, Kusunoki and Nitta, 
with the aid of Ashikaga, finally overthrew the Hojo 
domination in 1333 ; but the Ashikaga rule succeeded 
and continued till 1573. 

1 His younger brother, Yoshitsune, was a popular her*. 



HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 99 

During the fourteenth century occurred the Japan- 
ese " War of the Roses," or the " War of the Chrysan- 
themums," which was a conflict between two rival 
branches of the Imperial family. It resulted in the 
defeat of the "Southern Court" by the "Northern 
Court," and the reunion of the Imperial authority in 
the person of the Emperor Komatsu II. It was an 
Ashikaga Shogun who encouraged the quaint tea- 
ceremonial, called cha-no-yu ; it was the same family 
who fostered fine arts, especially painting and archi- 
tecture; it was an Ashikaga who paid tribute to 
China; it was "in almost the worst period of the 
Ashikaga anarchy" that, in 1542, "the Portuguese 
made their first appearance in Japan " ; and it was 
only five years later when Francis Xavier arrived 
there to begin his missionary labors, from which 
Christianity spread rapidly, until the converts were 
numbered by the millions.^ 

The next few decades of Japanese history are 
crowded with civil strife, and include the three 
great men, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and lyeyasu, 
each of whom in turn seized the supreme power. 
The first-named persecuted Buddhism and was favor- 
able to Christianity; the other two interdicted the 
latter. Hideyoshi, who "rose from obscurity solely 
by his own talents," has been called "the Napoleon 
of Japan." He is generally known by his title of 
Taiko ; and he extended his name abroad by an in- 
vasion of Korea, which was not, however, a complete 
1 See " The Religions of Japan " (Griffis), chap. xi. 



100 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

success. He is regarded by many as "the greatest 
soldier, if not the greatest man, whom Japan has 
produced." If this statement can be successfully 
challenged, the palm will certainly be awarded to 
lyeyasu, who, by the victory of Sekigahara in 1600, 
became the virtual ruler of the empire. 

5. ToTcugawa Feudalism [1603-1868 A. d.]. 

lyeyasu founded a dynasty (Tokugawa) of Shoguns, 
who, for more than 260 years, ruled at Yedo, sur- 
rounded by faithful vassals, and who at least gave 
the empire a long period of peace. He brought 
Japanese feudalism to its perfection of organization. 
His successors destroyed Christianity by means of 
a fearful persecution; prohibited commercial inter- 
course, except with the Chinese and the Dutch, ^ 
and allowed it with these only to a limited extent, 
and thus crystallized Japanese civilization and in- 
stitutions. It may be true that " Japan reached the 
acme of her ancient greatness during the Tokugawa 
Dynasty " ; but it is also true that by this policy of 
insulation and seclusion she was put back two and a 
half centuries in the matter of progress in civilization. 

The long years of peace under the Tokugawas 
were also years of literary development. Chinese 
history, literature, and philosophy were ardently 
studied; Confucianism wielded a mighty influence; 
but Japanese history and literature were not neg- 
lected. The Mito clan especially was the centre of 

1 Preyiously Portuguese, English, and others had enjoyed the 
privilege. 



HISTORY (OLD JAPAN) 101 

intellectual industry, and produced, among a large 
number of works, the Dai Nihon Shi (History of 
Great Japan}, which is even to-day the standard. 
The studjr of Japanese history revealed the fact that 
the governmental authority had been originally cen- 
tred in the Emperor, and not divided with any subor- 
dinate ; and the study of Confucian political science 
led to the same idea of an absolute monarchy. 
Thus the spirit of Imperialism grew, encouraged, 
perhaps, by clan jealousies and fostered by anti- 
foreign opinions, until " the last of the Shoguns " 
resigned his position, and the Emperor was restored 
to his original sole authority. Then the leaders of 
the Restoration abandoned their anti-foreign slogan, 
which had been only a pretext, and by a complete 
but wise volte-face^ began to turn their country into 
the path of modern civilization, to make up for the 
lost centuries. But the story of this wonderful trans- 
formation belongs to the next chapter. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Griffis, in his "Japan in History, Folk-lore, and Art," 
gives interesting glimpses of Japanese history ; and many other 
works on Japan present a brief treatment of this subject. 
There is an official " History of the Empire of Japan," originally 
prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition. Hildreth's 
" Japan as it Was and Is " is especially valuable for the period 
of seclusion. Knapp's "Feudal and Modern Japan" is in- 
structive in its contrasts. The Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan abound in valuable material. For a single 
volume on this subject, Murray's "Japan" in the series of 
" The Stories of the isTations " is the best. 



CHAPTER VIII 
HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 

Outline op Topics : Birth of New Japan. — Nineteenth Cen- 
tury Japan ; calendars ; six periods : (I) Period of Seclusion, chro- 
nology and description ; (II) Period of Treaty-making, chronology 
and description; (III) Period of Civil Commotions, chronology and 
description; (IV) Period of Reconstruction, chronology and de- 
scription, especially the " Charter Oath " ; (V) Period of Internal 
Development, chronology and description ; (VI) Period of Consti- 
tutional Government, chronology and description ; summary of 
general progress. — Bibliography. 

JULY 14, 1853, was the birthday of New Japan. 
It was the day when Commodore Perry and his 
suite first landed on the shore of Yedo Bay at 
Kurihama, near Uraga, and when Japanese author- 
ities received, in contravention of their own laws, an 
official communication from MiUard FiUmore, Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

It may be true that, even if Perry had not come, 
Japan would have been eventually opened, because 
internal public opinion was shaping itself against the 
policy of seclusion ; but we care little for what " might 
have been." It is, of course, true that Perry did not 
fully carry out the purpose of his expedition until the 
following year, when he negotiated a treaty of friend- 
ship ; but the reception of the President's letter was 
the crucial point ; it was the beginning of the end of 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 103 

old Japan. The rest followed in due course of time. 
When Japanese authorities broke their own laws, 
the downfall of the old system was inevitable. Mark 
those words in the receipt — "in opposition to the 
Japanese law." That was a clear confession that the 
old poHcy of seclusion and its prohibitions could no 
longer be strictly maintained. A precedent was thus 
established, of which other nations were not at all 
slow to avail themselves. 

But although New Japan was not born until the 
second half of the nineteenth century, it suits the 
purpose of this book a little better, even at the ex- 
pense of possible repetition, to take a survey in this 
chapter of that entire century, in order that the real 
progress of Japan may thereby be more clearly re- 
vealed in all its marvellous strides. 

Of course, the employment of the Gregorian calen- 
dar in Japan is of comparatively recent occurrence, so 
that it would be quite proper to divide up the century 
according to the old Japanese custom of periods, or 
eras,^ of varying length. This system was introduced 
from China and has prevailed since 645 A. d. A new 
era was always chosen " whenever it was deemed 
necessary to commemorate an auspicious or ward off a 
malign event." It is interesting, by the way, to notice 
that, immediately after Commodore Perry's arrival 
(1853), the name of the period was changed for a 
good omen ! Hereafter these eras will correspond 
with the reigns of the emperors. 

1 For lists of eras and emperors, see Appendix. 



104 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

But it is really more intelligible to divide the his- 
tory of the century into six periods of well-determined 
duration. Each one of these periods, moreover, may 
be accurately named in accord with the distinguishmg 
characteristic of that period. It must, however, be 
clearly understood that these distinctions are not all 
absolute, but rather relative. It is also possible, with- 
out an undue stretch of the imagination, to trace, in 
the order of the periods, the general progress that has 
marked the history of New Japan. These periods are 
as follows : — 

I. Seclusion (1801-1853). 
II. Treaty-making (1854-1858). 

III. Civil Commotions (1858-1868). 

IV. Reconstruction (1868-1878). 

V. Internal Development (1879-1889). 
VI. Constitutional Government (1889-1900).' 

It is of special interest for Americans to notice that 
the third and fourth periods are almost contemporane- 
ous with the periods of Civil War and Reconstruction 
in the United States. 

We now take up each period in detail. 

I. Period of Seclusion (1801-1853). 

CHROJSrOLOaT. 

1804. Eesanoff, Russian Embassy. 

1807. The " Eclipse " of Boston at Nagasaki. 

1808. The British frigate " Phaethon " at Nagasaki. 
1811-1813. G-olownin's captivity in Yezo. 

1818. Captain Gordon (British) in Yedo Bay. 
1 Or [VII. Cosraopolitanism (1899- )]. 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 105 

1825-1829. Dr. Von Siebold (Dutch) in Yedo. 

1827. Beechey (British) in " Blossom " at Loo Choo 

Islands. 
1837. The "Morrison" Expedition in Yedo Bay. 

1844. Letter ^ from King William 11. of Holland. 

1845. American whaler " Mercator " in Yedo Bay. 
British frigate " Saramang" at Nagasaki. 

1846. Dr. Bettelheim in Loo Choo Islands. 

Wreck of American whaler " Lawrence " on Kurile 
Islands. 

1848. (United States) Commodore Biddle's Expedition 

in Yedo Bay. 
Wreck of American whaler "Ladoga" off Mat- 

sumai, Yezo. 
Ronald McDonald landed in Japan. 

1849. United States " Preble " in Nagasaki harbor. 
British " Mariner " in Yedo Bay. 

1853. Shogun lyeyoshi died. 

Commodore Perry in Yedo Bay. 

It needs only a few words to summarize this period 
which includes the final days of the two-edged policy 
of exclusion and inclusion, which forbade not only 
foreigners to enter, but also Japanese to leave, the 
country. It would not even allow Japanese ship- 
wrecked on other shores to be brought back to their 
native laud, as several futile attempts mentioned 
above attest. Nagasaki was the only place where for- 
eign trade was allowed, and there only in a slight 
degree with Chinese and Dutch. The events of this 
period are almost all vain attempts to open Japan. 
Two important events concern the Loo Choo Islands, 

1 Recommending to open Japan to foreign intercourse. 



106 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

then independent, and later visited also by Commo- 
dore Perry on his way from China to Japan. Ronald 
McDonald was an Oregon boy, who, "voluntarily 
left adrift, got into Yezo, and thence to Nagasaki." 
He is reported to have puzzled the Japanese author- 
ities by stating that in America " the people are king 
and the source of authority " 1 This period of seclu- 
sion came to an end on July 14, 1853, M'hen the 
Japanese, contrary to their own laws, received from 
Commodore Perry the letter from President Fillmore 
to the Emperor of Japan.^ 

II. Period of Treaty- Making (1854-1858). 

CHRONOLOGY. 

1854. Perry's treaty of peace and amity. 
British treaty of peace and amity. 

1855. Eussian treaty of peace and amity. 
Terrible earthquake. 

1856. Fire in Yedo ; 100,000 lives lost. 
Dutch treaty of peace and amity. 

Townsend Harris, United States Consul, arrived. 

1857. Harris in audience with the Shagun. 

1858. Harris treaty of trade and commerce. 
Elgin treaty of trade and commerce. 

1 The following is what the Japanese themselves stated about 
this event : " The letter of the President of the United States of 
North America, and copy, are hereby received and delivered to the 
Emperor. Many times it has been communicated that business 
relating to foreign coimtries cannot be transacted here at Uraga, 
but in Nagasaki. Now, it has been observed that the Admiral, in 
his quality of ambassador of the President, would be insulted by 
it; the justice of this has been acknowledged; consequently, the 
above-mentioned letter is hereby received, in opposition to the 
Japanese law." 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 107 

This is the era which was opened by Commodore 
Perry, and was almost entirely devoted to the per- 
severing attempts of Perry, Harris, Curtius, Lord 
Elgin, and others to negotiate treaties, first of friend- 
ship and amity, and afterwards of trade and com- 
merce, with Japan. It is rather interesting that the 
only events chronicled above, besides treaty-making, 
are terrible catastrophes, which the superstitious con- 
servatives believed to have been visited upon their 
country as a punishment for treating with the bar- 
barians ! It is again a matter of peculiar pride to 
Americans that the first treaty of friendship and 
amity was negotiated by Perry ; that the first foreign 
flag raised officially in Japan was the Stars and Stripes, 
hoisted at Shimoda by Harris on September 4, 1856 ; 
that Harris was the first accredited diplomatic agent 
from a foreign country to Japan ; that he also had the 
honor of the first audience of a foreign representa- 
tive with the Shogun, then supposed to be the 
Emperor ; and that he negotiated the first treaty of 
trade and commerce. 

III. Period of Civil Commotions (1858-1868). 

CHRONOLOGY. 

1859. Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hakodate opened. 
First Christian missionaries. 

1860. Assassination of li, Prime Minister of the Shogun, 

1861. Frequent attacks on foreigners. 

1862. First foreign embassy. Eichardson affair 

1863. Bombardment of Kagoshima. 

1864. Bombardment of Shimonoseki. 



108 A HANDBOOK OP MODERN JAPAN 

1865. Imperial sanction of treaties. Tariff convention. 

1866. Shogun lyemochi died ; succeeded by Keiki. 

1867. Emperor Komei died ; succeeded by Mutsuhito. 
Keiki resigned. Eeorganization of the Govern- 
ment. 

1868. Restoration, or Revolution. 

This era has been so named because it was marked 
by commotions, not merely between different factions 
among the Japanese, but also between Japanese and 
foreigners. The anti-foreign spirit that manifested 
itself in numerous assaults and conspiracies was so 
involved with internal dissensions that it is quite 
difficult to distinguish them. The assassination of 
li, the Shogun's Prime Minister, who had the courage 
and the foresight to sign the treaties, was the natural 
sequence of the opening of three ports to foreign com- 
merce. The conservative spirit, moreover, was still 
so strong that the Shogun had to send an embassy, 
the first one ever sent abroad officially by Japan, to 
petition the treaty-powers to permit the postpone- 
ment of the opening of other ports. The murder of 
Richardson, an Englishman who rudely interrupted 
the progress of the retinue of the Prince of Satsuma, 
was the pretext for the bombardment of Kagoshima ; 
and the firing on an American vessel that was passing 
through the Straits of Shimonoseki was the excuse 
for the bombardment of Shimonoseki. About the 
middle of this period the Imperial sanction of the 
treaties was obtained, and a tariff convention was 
negotiated. 




STATESMEN OF NEW JAPAN 
OKUBO, OKUBO (SAIGO), KIDO, AND PRINCE IWAKUEA 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 109 

The civil dissensions, however, continued ; the 
great clan of Choshiu became engaged in actual war- 
fare against the Shogun's troops in Kyoto and were 
proclaimed " rebels," against whom an Imperial army- 
was despatched; the young Shogun, lyemochi, died 
and was succeeded by Keiki; and the Emperor 
Komei also died and was succeeded by his young son, 
Mutsuhito, the present Emperor. Finally, the new 
Shogun, observing the drift of political affairs and 
the need of the times for a more centralized and 
unified administration, resigned his position ; and the 
system of government was re-formed with the Emperor 
in direct control. The new Emperor declared in a 
manifesto ; " Henceforward we shall exercise supreme 
authority, both in the internal and [the] external 
affairs of the country. Consequently the title of 
Emperor should be substituted for that of Tycoon 
[Shogun], which has hitherto been employed in the 
treaties." Of this manifesto, one writer says : " Ap- 
pended were the seal of Dai Nippon, and the signa- 
ture, Mutsuhito, this being the first occasion in 
Japanese history on which the name of an Emperor 
had appeared during his lifetime." ^ 

But the effect of the reorganization of the gov- 
ernment seemed to the adherents of the former 
Shogun to work so much injustice to them that they 
rose in arms against the Sat-Cho [Satsuma-Choshiu] 
combination which was then influential at court. 
This led, in 1867, to a civil war, which, after a severe 

1 Dixon's " Land of the Morning," p. 97. 



110 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

struggle, culminated in 1868 in the complete triumph 
of the Imperialists. This event is what is called by 
some " the Restoration," and by others " the Revolu- 
tion." This was, in fact, the climax of all the civil 
commotions of the period ; the anti-foreign spirit 
and policy were only secondary to the prime purpose 
of overthrowing the usurpation of the Tokugawa 
Shogunate and restoring the one legal Emperor to 
his lawful authority. And thus fell, not only the 
Tokugawa Dynasty, as had fallen other dynasties, of 
Shoguns, but also the whole system of a Shdgunate ; 
and thus the Emperor of Japan became, not ruler in 
name and fame only, but sovereign in act and fact. 
Since 1868 Mutsuhito has been Emperor both de jure 
and de facto. 

IV. Period of Reconstruction (1868-1878). 

CHRONOLOGY. 

1868. Opening of Hyogo (Kobe) and Osaka. 

1869. Opening of Yedo and Niigata. 
Emperor's audience of foreign ministers. 
Yedo named Tokyo and made capital. 
The " Charter Oath " of Japan. 

1870. Light-houses, telegraphs. 

1871. Postal system, mint, and dock. 
Feudalism abolished. 

Eta and Mnin (outcasts) admitted to citizenship. 
Colonization in Yezo [Hokkaido]. 

1872. First railway, newspaper, church, and Missionary 

Conference. 
Imperial University in Tokyo. 
Iwakura Embassy to America and Europe. 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 111 

1873. Adoption of Gregorian calendar. 
Eemoval of anti-Christian edicts. 
Empress gave audience to foreign ladies. 

1874. Saga Eebellion. Formosan Expedition. 

1875. Assembly of Governors. Senate. 
Saghalien traded off for Kurile Islands 

1876. Treaty with Korea. 

1877. Satsuma Rebellion. 

First National Exhibition in Tokyo. 

1878. Bimetallism. 

Promise to establish Prefectural Assemblies. 

This period was one of laying the foundations of a 
New Japan, to be constructed out of the old, and was 
one of such kaleidoscopic changes and marvellous 
transformations in society, business, and administra- 
tion that it is almost blinding to the eye to attempt 
to watch the work of reconstruction. There were 
abortive but costly attempts, like the Saga and the 
Satsuma rebellions, to check the progressive policy. 
It was the great period of " firsts," of beginnings : 
the first audiences of foreign ministers by the Em- 
peror and of foreign ladies by the Empress ; the first 
telegraph, mint, dock, railroad, postal system, news- 
paper, exhibition, church, etc. ; an assembly of pro- 
vincial governors to confer together upon general 
policy, and a Senate. 

The " Charter Oath " of Japan was not obtained 
by coercion, but voluntarily taken: it is such an 
important document that at least a summary may 
be given : ^ — 

1 lyenaga's " Constitutional Development of Japan," p. 33. 



112 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

" 1. A deliberative assembly sbould be formed, and all 
measures be decided by public opinion. 

" 2. The principles of social and political economics 
should be diligently studied by both the superior and 
[the] inferior classes of our people. 

"3. Every one in the community shall be assisted 
to persevere in carrying out his will for all good 
purposes. 

"4. All the old absurd usages of former times should 
be disregarded, and the impartiality and justice dis- 
played in the workings of nature be adopted as a basis 
of action. 

" 5. Wisdom and ability should be sought after in all 
quarters of the world for the purpose of firmly establish- 
ing the foundations of the empire." 

Two years later feudalism was abolished by the 
following laconic decree : " The clans are abolished, 
and prefectures are established in their places." In 
the same year the outcast eta and hi-nin (not- 
human) were recognized as common people. Then 
followed the despatch of the Iwakura Embassy to 
America and Europe, where, although they failed in 
their prime purpose of securing a revision of the 
treaties on more nearly equal terms, they learned 
most valuable lessons. Two immediate results thereof 
were seen in the removal of the anti-Christian edicts 
and the adoption of the Gregorian, or Christian, cal- 
endar. And finally came the promise to establish 
prefectural assemblies as training schools in local self- 
government. 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 113 

V. Period of Internal Development (1879-1889). 

CHEONOLOGT. 

1879. Annexation of the Loo Choc Islands. 
Visit of General U. S. Grant. 

1880. Promulgation of Penal Code and Code of Criminal 

Procedure. 
Establishment of prefectural assemblies. 

1881. Announcement of Constitutional Government. 

1882. Organization of political parties. 
Bank of Japan (Nippon Ginko). 

1883. Missionary Conference, Osaka. 

1884. New orders of nobility in European fashion. 
English introduced into school curricula. 

1885. Japan Mail Steamship Company {Nippon Yusen 

Kivaisha) . 
Cabinet reconstruction, known as " The Great 
Earthquake" (political). 

1886. Dissatisfaction of Radicals. 

1887. "Peace Preservation Act." 

1888. Establishment of Privy Council. 
Eruption of Mount Bandai. 

1889. Promulgation of the Constitution (February 11). 
Establishment of local self-government. 
Prince Haru proclaimed Crown Prince. 

This period is not marked, perhaps, by so many 
unusual events as the preceding one ; but it was a 
period of rapid, though somewhat quiet, internal 
development. We note in financial affairs the or- 
ganization of the Bank of Japan, which has ever 
since been a most important agent in maintaining 
an economic equilibrium; in business circles the 
8 



114 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

organization of the Japan Mail Steamship Company, 
which has been instrumental in expanding Japanese 
trade and commerce ; in society the reorganization 
of the nobility; and in legal matters the promulga- 
tion of new codes. Several political events are noted 
in the chronology ; but they were mostly preparatory 
to the next period. The promise to establish prefec- 
tural assemblies was fulfilled, and these became pre- 
paratory schools in political science ; and another 
promise, that of a constitution, was made. The Cabi- 
net was reconstructed, and political parties were 
organized. The Radicals, however, became dissatis- 
fied with the slowness of political progress, and made 
such an agitation that, in 1887, many were expelled 
from Tokyo by the so-called " Peace Preservation 
Act," and those who refused to obey were im- 
prisoned. But finally, in 1889, as the climax of 
the internal development and political preparations, 
came the establishment of local self-government and 
the promulgation of the Constitution, which ushered 
in the next period. 

VI. Period of Constitutional Government (1889-1900). 

CHRONOLOGY. 

1889. Anti-foreign reaction. 

1890. First National Election. First Imperial Diet. 
Promulgation of Civil and Commercial Codes. 

1891. Attack on the Czarowitz, now Emperor of Russia. 
Gifu earthquake. 

1892. Dispute between the two Houses of Diet. 

1893. Dispute between the Diet and the Government. 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 115 

1894. War with China. 

1895. War with China. Acquisition of Formosa. 

1896. Alliance between the Government and Liberals. 
Tidal wave on northeastern coast of main island. 

1897. Eevised tariff. Gold standard. 
Freedom of press and public meeting. 

1898. Eevised Civil Code. First " Party Cabinet." 

1899. New treaties on terms of equality — Japan wide 

open. 
Wedding of Crown Prince Haru. 

1900. Extension of electoral franchise. 

War with China — Japan allied with Christendom. 
General Missionary Conference, Tokyo. 

This period included wars and other calamities, but 
also some very fortunate events. It opened, strange 
to say, with the " anti-foreign reaction " at its height. 
This reaction was the natural result of the rapid 
Occidentalizing that had been going on, and was 
strengthened by the refusal of Western nations to 
revise the treaties which kept Japan in thraldom. 
But the period closed with " treaty revision " accom- 
plished, and Japan admitted, on terms of equality, to 
alliance with Western nations.^ And in quelling the 
"Boxer" disturbances in China and particularly in 
raising the Siege of Peking, Japan played a most 
important part. This period was chiefly occupied 
with the experimental stage in constitutional gov- 
ernment, when the relations between the two Houses 
of the Diet, between the Diet and the Cabinet, be- 
tween the Cabinet and political parties, were being 

1 See Appendix for New Treaty. 



116 A HANDBOOK OF MODEEN JAPAN" 

defined. This was also the period during which new 
civil, commercial, and criminal codes were put into 
operation; the gold standard was adopted; the re- 
strictions on the freedom of the press and of public 
meeting were almost entirely removed ; the tariff was 
revised in the interests of Japan; and the electoral 
franchise in elections for members of the House of 
Representatives was largely extended. 

It has already been suggested that the very order 
of these periods indicates in general the progress of 
Japan during those hundred years. The century 
dawns, nay, even the second half of the century 
opens, with Japan in seclusion. But Commodore 
Perry breaks down that isolation ; and Japan enters, 
first merely into amity, but afterwards into commer- 
cial intercourse, with foreign nations. The break 
up of the old foreign policy accelerates the break up 
of the old national policy of government, and civil 
commotions culminate in the restoration of the Em- 
peror to his lawful authority. Japan is then recon- 
structed on new lines ; and a tremendous internal 
development prepares the Japanese to be admitted 
by their generous Emperor into a share of his inher- 
ited prerogatives. And the century sets with Japan 
among the great nations of Christendom, and with 
the Japanese enjoying a constitutional government, 
representative institutions, local self-government, free- 
dom of the pre^s and of public meeting, and reli- 
gious liberty. If this is the record of Nineteenth 
Century Japan, what of Twentieth Century Japan? 



HISTORY (NEW JAPAN) 117 

It certainly has a good start, in formal alliance with 
Great Britain to maintain peace and justice in the 
Far East. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The same as the preceding chapter, with the addition of 
" The Intercourse between the United States and Japan " 
(Nitobe); "Matthew Calbraith Perry," " Townsend Harris," 
and " Verbeck of Japan " (aU by Griffis) ; " Advance Japan " 
(Morris) ; and Perry's Expedition (official report). 

On the early history of New Japan there are many valuable 
works by Alcock, Black, Dickson, Dixon (W. G.), House, 
Lanman, Mounsey, Mossman, and others. See also Satow's 
translation of " Kinse Shiriaku." On the war with China 
(1894, 1895), see "Heroic Japan" (Eastlake and Yamada); and 
on the lessons and results of that war, see " The New Far 
East" (Diosy). 



CHAPTER IX 
CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 

Outline of Topics : The " Charter Oath " of Japan ; popular 
agitation ; promise of a national assembly ; a red-letter year ; the 
" Magna Charta " of Japan ; Imperial prerogatives ; personality of 
Emperor and Empress ; Crown Prince and Princess ; Imperial 
grandchildren; Privy Council; Imperial Cabinet; Departments 
of State ; sundry comments ; House of Peers ; House of Commons ; 
some "firsts"; rights and duties of subjects; criticisms of Jap- 
anese politics ; popular rights ; personnel of two Houses ; cabinet 
responsibility ; political parties ; persons and principles ; constitu- 
tional system satisfactory. — Bibliography. 

WHEN the Revolution, or Restoration, of 
1868 ended the usurpation, and over- 
threw the despotism of the Shogun, the 
young Emperor, Mutsuhito, restored to his ancestral 
rights as the actual sole ruler of the empire, took 
solemn oath that " a deliberative assembly should be 
formed ; all measures be decided by public opinion ; 
the uncivilized customs of former times should be 
broken through ; the impartiality and justice displayed 
in the workings of nature be adopted as a basis of 
action; and that intellect and learning should be 
sought for throughout the world, in order to estab- 
lish the foundations of the empire." In that same 
year an assembly of representatives of the clans was 
called to meet in the capital, and was given the title 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 119 

of Shugi-in (House of Commons). It consisted of 
samurai (knights) from each clan; and as they were 
appointed by each daimyo (prince), the body was 
a purely feudal, and not at all a popular, assembly. 
In 1871 feudalism was abolished, and later a senate 
was established ; but that was an advisory body, con- 
sisting of officials appointed by the Emperor and 
without legislative power. In 1875 the Emperor 
convoked a council of the officers of the provincial 
governments with a purpose stated as follows : " We 
also call a council of the officials of our provinces, so 
that the feelings of the people may be made known 
and the public welfare attained. By these means we 
shall gradually confer upon the nation a constitu- 
tional form of government. The provincial officials 
are summoned as the representatives of the people 
in the various provinces, that they may express their 
opinion on behalf of the people." 

But a body so constituted and rather conservative 
could not satisfy the demands of the new age. 
Itagaki (now Count) insisted that the government 
should "guarantee the establishment of a popular 
assembly," and organized societies, or associations, 
for popular agitation of the subject. Petitions and 
memorials poured in upon the government, within 
whose circles Okuma (now Count), Minister of 
Finance, was most active in the same direction. In 
the mean time (1878) provincial assemblies, the 
members of which were chosen by popular election, 
had been established as a preparatory measure. 



120 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

It was on October 12, 1881, that the Emperor 
issued his memorable proclamation that a National 
Assembly should be opened in 1890, That procla- 
mation read as follows: — 

"We therefore hereby declare that we shall, in the 
23rd year of Meiji, establish a Parliament, in order to 
carry into full effect the determination we have an- 
nounced, and we charge our faithful subjects bearing 
our commissions to make, in the mean time, all necessary 
preparations to that end. With regard to the limita- 
tions upon the Imperial prerogative, and the constitution 
of the Parliament, we shall decide hereafter, and shall 
make proclamation in due time." 

From that time on there was progress, " steadily, 
if slowly, in the direction of greater decentraliza- 
tion and broader popular prerogative." 

The year 1889 was a red-letter year in the calendar 
of Japan's political progress. On February 11 was 
promulgated that famous document ^ which took 
Japan forever out of the ranks of Oriental despotisms 
and placed her among constitutional monarchies; 
and on April 1 the law of local self-government for 
city, town, and village went into effect. 

The Japanese Constitution has very appropriately 
been called "the Magna Charta of Japanese liberty." 
It was not, however, like the famous English docu- 
ment, extorted by force from an unwilling monarch 
and a cruel tyrant, but was voluntarily granted by 
a kind and loved ruler at the expense of his inherited 

1 Drawn up by Count (now Marquis) ltd, Messrs. Kaneko and 
Suyematsu (now Barons), and others. 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 121 

and long -established rights. The present Emperor 
holds the throne according to the native tradition, 
perpetuated even in the language of the Constitu- 
tion, by virtue of a " lineal succession unbroken for 
ages eternal." But even though rigid criticism 
compels us to reject as more or less mythological 
the so-called "history" of about 1,000 years; and 
although Mutsuhito, therefore, may not be really the 
122d ruler of the line from the Japanese Komulus 
(Jimmu), nevertheless he remains the representa- 
tive of the oldest living dynasty in the world. If, 
then, time is a factor in confirming the claims and 
rights of a ruler, no king or emperor of the present 
day has a better title. And yet this man, born and 
bred in the atmosphere of Oriental absolutism and 
despotism, "in consideration of the progressive ten- 
dency of the course of human affairs, and in parallel 
with the advance of civilization," ^ voluntarily and 
generously admits his people to a share in the ad- 
ministration of public affairs. 

That important document, which signs away such 
strongly acquired and inherited prerogatives, at the 
outset, however, seems far from generous. The 
Emperor, "sacred and inviolate," is "the head of 
the empire," combining in himself the rights of 
sovereignty; but he "exercises them according to 
the provisions of the Constitution." It is only "in 
consequence of an urgent necessity to maintain pub- 
lic safety or to avert public calamities," that the 

1 This and following quotations are from the Constitution itself. 



122 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Emperor, "when the Imperial Diet is not sitting," 
may issue "Imperial Ordinances in place of law." 
But these ordinances must be approved by the Im- 
perial Diet at its next session, or become "invalid 
for the future." To the Emperor is reserved the 
function of issuing ordinances necessary for carry- 
ing out the laws passed by the Diet or for the 
maintenance of public peace and order; but "no 
Ordinance shall in any way alter any of the existing 
laws." The Emperor also determines the organiza- 
tion of the various branches of the government, 
appoints and dismisses all officials, and fixes their 
salaries. Moreover, he has " the supreme command 
of the army and navy," whose organization and 
peace standing he determines ; " declares war, makes 
peace, and concludes treaties"; "confers titles of no- 
bility, rank, orders, and other marks of honor " ; and 
"orders amnesty, pardon, commutation of punish- 
ments and rehabilitation." 

Now it must be quite evident to the most casual 
reader that, in carrying out this Constitution, pat- 
terned after that of Germany, much depends upon 
the Emperor and his personality. One, like Komei 
(the father of the present Emperor), bigoted and in- 
tent upon resisting any infringement, to the slightest 
degree, upon his "divine rights," could create a 
great deal of friction in the administration of affairs. 
But, fortunately for Japan and the world, Mutsuhito 
is not at all inclined to be narrow-minded, selfish, 
and despotic, but is graciously pleased to be the 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 123 

leader of his subjects in broader and better paths. 
And although the Empress has no share in the 
administration and wisely keeps "out of politics," 
her popularity enhances the interest felt in the 
present reign. ^ 

It is, moreover, fortunate for Japan that the heir 
apparent, Prince Haru, is also a man of most liberal 
ideas and progressive tendencies. He has had a 
broad education, by both public and private instruc- 
tion, and a careful training for the career that lies 
before him; and he will undoubtedly be found ready 
to extend popular privileges just so far as conditions 
warrant. If he lives to ascend the throne, he will 
be the first Japanese Emperor who received any 
education in public ; for it was in the Gakushuin — or 
Nobles' School, as it is called in English — that he 
completed the elementary course.^ After that, on 
account of poor health, he was compelled to pursue 
his studies under private tutors. 

And that the Imperial line will, in all human 
probability, remain "unbroken" for many years, is 
rendered likely by the fact that the Crown Prince 
and the Crown Princess Sada have been blessed with 
two healthy sons. Prince Michi and Prince Atsu, 
who are being brought up by professional "tutors," 
Count and Countess Kawamura, away from court 
life, with such care as the needs of said Imperial line 
demand. 

1 See Scidmore's "Jinrikisha Days in Japan," chaps, xi., xii. 

2 See " The Yankees of the East," chap. iii. 



124 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

But, to return from this digression to the subject 
of the Constitution, another body recognized by that 
document is the Privy Council (Sumitsu-In), ap- 
pointed by the Emperor and consulted by him upon 
certain matters of State. It consists of 1 President, 
1 Vice-President, 25 Councillors, and 1 Secretary, 
with 5 assistants; and it is composed of "personages 
who have rendered signal service to the State and 
who are distinguished for their experience," such as 
ex-Ministers of State and others, whose "valuable 
advice on matters of State " would naturally be 
sought. The matters coming within the cognizance 
of the Privy Couiicil are specified as follows: 
Matters which come under its jurisdiction by the 
Law of the Houses (of Parliament); drafts and 
doubtful points relating to articles of the Constitu- 
tion, and to laws and ordinances dependent to the 
Constitution; proclamation of the law of siege and 
certain Imperial ordinances; international treaties; 
and matters specially called for. The Ministers of 
State are, ex officio, members of the Privy Coun- 
cil; but although it is "the Emperor's highest 
resort of counsel, it shall not interfere with the 
Executive." 

The Cabinet includes the holders of 10 portfolios: 
those of the Minister President, or Premier; the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Minister of Home 
Affairs; the Minister of Finance; the Minister of 
the Army, or War; the Minister of the Navy; the 
Minister of Justice; the Minister of Education; 




DEPAETMENTS OF STATE : Navy ; AGRICULTUEE AND 
COMMERCE ; JUSTICE ; FOREIGN AFFAIRS 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 125 

the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce; and the 
Minister of Communications. There is one other 
official who holds the title of Minister, but is not a 
member of the Cabinet, that is, the Minister of the 
Imperial Household. When the Cabinet is fully 
organized, it contains 10 members; but occasionally 
circumstances compel the Premier or some other 
Minister to hold an extra portfolio, at least tempo- 
rarily. Each department of state has its own sub- 
ordinate officials, most of whom hold office under 
civiLservice rules and are not removable. 

The titles of the departments are mostly self- 
explanatory, and correspond in general to similar 
departments in Occidental countries; but in some 
cases there are vital differences, especially in com- 
parison with the United States Cabinet. In a pater- 
nal government, like that of Japan, the Minister of 
Home Affairs holds a much more important position 
than our Secretary of the Interior, for he has the 
general oversight of the police system and the prefec- 
tural governments; the Minister of Justice holds a 
broader position than our Attorney-General; and the 
Minister of Communications has the oversight, not 
of the postal system only, but also of telegraphs, 
telephones, railways, and other modes of conveyance 
and communication. In general, as will be ob- 
served, the Japanese Government owns many in- 
stitutions which, in our country, are entrusted to 
private enterprise. 

The Premier receives a salary of 9,600 yen, and 



126 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

other ministers receive 6,000 yen^ besides official 
residence and sundry allowances. In most cases 
the real work of each department is performed by the 
subordinate officials, while the frequently changing ^ 
Ministers of State are only nominal heads of the de- 
partments. The two portfolios of the Army and the 
Navy, however, have been taken out of politics, and 
are not subject to change whenever a ministry goes 
out of office. Ministers of State, as well as govern- 
mental delegates, specially appointed for the pur- 
pose, "may, at any time, take seats and speak in 
either House " of the Imperial Diet. 

The Imperial Diet of Japan consists of two Houses, 
the House of Peers and the House of Commons. 
The membership of the former comprises three 
classes, — hereditary, elective, and appointive. ^ The 
members of the Imperial Family and of the orders of 
Princes and Marquises possess the hereditary tenure. 
From among those persons who have the titles of 
Count, Baron, and Viscount a certain number are 
chosen by election, for a term of seven years. The 
Emperor has the power of appointing for life mem- 
bership a limited number of persons, deserving on 
account of meritorious services to the State or of 
erudition. Finally, in each Fu and Ken one member 
is elected from and among the highest tax-payers and 
appointed by the Emperor, for a term of seven years. 

The members of the House of Commons are always 

1 For table of Cabinet changes, see Appendix. 

2 The number is variable ; at present, it is 328. See Appendix. 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 127 

elected by ballot in accordance with the Election 
Law, by which they now number 376. Their term 
of office is four years, unless they lose their seats 
by dissolution of the Diet, as has often happened. 
" Those [persons] alone shall be eligible [as candi- 
dates], that are male Japanese subjects, of not less 
than full thirty years of age, and that in the Fu or 
Ken in which they desire to be elected, have been 
paying direct national taxes to an amount of not less 
than 15 yen, for a period of not less than one year 
previous to the date of making out the electoral list, 
and that are still paying that amount of direct 
national taxes. "^ Certain officials, as well as mili- 
tary and naval officers, are ineligible. A voter must 
be full twenty-five years of age ; must have actually 
resided in that Fu or Ken for one year; and must 
have been paying direct national taxes of not less 
than 10 yen. The limits of an electoral district in- 
clude a whole Fu or Ken., except that an incorporated 
city {Shi) forms one or more districts by itself. And 
the number of the latter kind of districts has been 
increased lately, so that urban populations might 
have a more adequate representation. The plan of 
unsigned uni-nominal ballots is employed. The 
present number of eligible voters is a little over one 
million. 

The first election under the Constitution took 
place (whether designedly or accidentally, I know 
not), by a curious coincidence, on July ^, 1890 ; and 

1 The property qualification has since been abolished. 



128 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

the first session of the Imperial Diet opened on 
November 29, 1890. On December 2 the House of 
Peers received the first bill ever presented to a 
National Assembly in Japan; and on December 4 
the first Budget (for 1891) was laid before the House 
of Representatives by Count Matsukata, Minister of 
Finance. 

Some notice must be taken of the rights and duties 
of subjects under the Japanese Constitution. All 
such persons are eligible to civil and military offices ; 
amenable to service in the army and the navy, and 
the duty of paying taxes, according to law ; have the 
liberty of abode, inviolate right of property, right of 
trial by law, and freedom of speech, writing, publica- 
tion, public meeting, association, and religious belief, 
"within the limits of law"; cannot be arrested, 
detained, tried, or punished, "unless according to 
law," and can claim inviolate secrecy of correspond- 
ence. Moreover, " the house of no Japanese subject 
shall be entered or searched without his consent," 
except in due process of law. All subjects may also 
present petitions, "by observing the proper forms of 
respect." The freedom of religious belief is granted 
"within limits not prejudicial to peace and order, 
and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects." 
These " rights " are old to Anglo-Saxons, but new to 
Japanese. 

Now we often see and hear rather uncomplimentary 
statements about the Imperial Diet, political parties, 
cabinet ministers, and Japanese political affairs in 





DIET BUILDINGS : HOUSE OF COMMONS AND HOUSE OF PEERS 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM V29 

general, and are even told that Japan is only " play- 
ing " with parliamentary and representative institu- 
tions, that her popular assemblies are mere "toys," 
her constitutional government is all a "farce," and 
her new civilization is nothing but a "bib." Such 
criticisms, however, result either from ignorance or 
from a wrong point of view. It is undeniably true 
that, viewed from the vantage-ground attained by 
popular institutions and constitutional government 
in many Occidental nations, Japan is still lagging 
behind. It is not fair, however, to judge her by 
our own standards ; the only just way is to estimate 
carefully the exact difference between her former 
and her present conditions. This the author has 
tried to do elsewhere in a pamphlet ^ on " Constitu- 
tional Government in Japan," in which he has given 
a sketch of the workings of the Japanese Constitu- 
tion during the first decade, or period, of its history. 
From that he quotes the following conclusions : — 

The progress made during the first decade of con- 
stitutional government in Japan was considerable. 
In the first place, popular rights were largely ex- 
panded by the removal of most of the restrictions 
on freedom of the press and public meeting; as 
much extension of the electoral franchise as seems 
warranted was accomplished; and public opinion, as 
voiced in the newspapers and magazines, was wield- 
ing an increased and constantly increasing influence. 

1 Published in the "Annals of the American Academy of Politi- 
cal and Social Science." 

9 



130 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

On this point the "Japan Times" says: "No one 
who goes into the country and compares the present 
degree of the people's political education with what 
it was ten years ago, can fail to be struck by the 
immense progress achieved during that interval." 

In the second place, the character of the two 
Houses of the Imperial Diet has greatly improved. 
The inexperienced have given way to the experi- 
enced, the ignorant to the intelligent; so that, after 
six elections, the personnel of the House of Repre- 
sentatives is of a much better quality, and the House 
of Peers has been quickened by the infusion of 
new blood. Experience, as usual, has been a good 
teacher. 

In the third place, the Cabinet, theoretically re- 
sponsible to the Emperor because appointed by him 
on his own sole authority, is practically responsible 
to the Imperial Diet and must command the support 
of a majority of that body. Hereafter it would seem 
that dissolution of the Diet is not likely to occur as 
often as dissolution of the Cabinet. 

The one weak point in this situation is that, 
although the principle of party cabinets is thus es- 
tablished, its practical application is difficult of reali- 
zation, simply because there are no true political 
parties in Japan. There are many so-called "par- 
ties," which are really only factions, bound together 
by personal, class, geographical, or mercantile ties, 
and without distinctive principles. One "party" 
is actually Count Okuma's following; another is 



CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM 131 

Count Itagaki's; another is called "the business 
men's party"; another is composed of politicians of 
the Northeast ; and another tries to maintain the old 
clan alliances.^ 

But it is, nevertheless, true that "Japan is at 
length passing out of the epoch of persons and en- 
tering the era of principles," when, of course, will 
speedily come the development of parties. It is not, 
perhaps, strange that the personality of the great 
statesmen who made New Japan possible has been 
felt for so long a time, nor that the able men of the 
rising generation have begun to chafe a little under 
the prolonged control of those older statesmen. But, 
as the "Japan Times" says, "the conflict between 
the old and the new elements of political power, the 
so-called clan statesmen and the party politicians, 
has been so far removed that the time is already in 
sight when the country will see them working har- 
moniously under the same banner and with the 
same platform." Such is apparently the case in the 
Seiyukwai, Marquis Ito's new party, organized in 
1900, the closing year of the first decade of Japanese 
constitutionalism. And this problem of political 
parties is the great one to be solved in the second 
period of constitutional government in Japan. 

We may, therefore, conclude that the working of 
the new system of government has, on the whole, 
been satisfactory. We must acknowledge, with the 
"Japan Mail," that "it would be altogether extrava- 

1 See Appendix. 



132 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

gant to expect that Japan's new constitutional gar- 
ments should fit her perfectly from the first. They 
are too large for her. She has to grow into them, 
and of course the process is destined to be more 
or less awkward." We must agree with Marquis 
Ito, the author of the Constitution, not only that 
there has been the experimental period, but also that 
" excellent results have thus far been obtained, when 
it is remembered how sudden has been the transition 
from feudalism to representative institutions." We 
ought, indeed, to bear in mind, that, when the Con- 
stitution was promulgated, Japan was only eighteen 
years out of feudalism and twenty-one years out of 
military despotism ; so that, by both the Oriental and 
the Occidental reckoning. New Japan had only just 
come " of age " politically. She seems, therefore, 
deserving of the greatest credit for the progress of 
the first decade of constitutionalism. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

" The Story of Japan " (Murray), " Advance Japan " (Morris), 
and "The Yankees of the East" (Curtis), give some informa- 
tion here and there about the government of Japan. But 
especially helpful are Wigmore's articles in the " Nation " and 
" Scribner's Monthly," lyenaga's " Constitutional Development 
of Japan," Knapp's "Feudal and Modern Japan," Count 
(now Marquis) Ito's " Commentaries on the Constitution of the 
Empire of Japan," and Lay's " History of Japanese Political 
Parties " (Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxx. 
part iii.). 



CHAPTER X 
LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 

Outline of Topics : Local government under feudalism ; 
periods of modern local self-government ; gradual development 
therein ; prefectural assemblies ; candidates and electors ; standing 
committee ; sessions ; business ; speaking ; petitions ; how bills 
become laws ; powers of prefectural assemblies, theoretical and 
practical; residents and citizens of cities, towns, and villages; 
rights and duties of citizens; administration in city, town, and 
village ; city council ; town and village oflScials ; city assembly ; 
assemblymen ; powers of city assembly ; town or village assembly ; 
special provisions for towns and villages ; administration of terri- 
tories; pacification of Formosa; colonial government; policy in 
Formosa ; political progress in Japan. — Bibliography. 

WE have already noted incidentally in pre- 
ceding chapters some of the steps in the 
development of local self-government in 
Japan; and now we must treat that subject more 
particularly. First it is well to observe in passing 
that the steps from feudalism to local self-govern- 
ment were not so difficult as might be imagined ; for 
under the feudal system local government by clans 
had prevailed.! And yet when feudalism was abol- 
ished, the reconstruction of local government was 
entered upon slowly and cautiously in order to mini- 
mize jealousies and other obstacles. 

1 See valuable papers by Simmons and Wigmore in Transactions 
Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xix. pp. 37-270, and vol. xx., Supple- 
ment, part i., pp. 41-62. 



134 A HANDBOOK OF MODEEN JAPAN 

Wigmore, in liis articles ^ on this subject, divides 
the period from 1867 to 1889 into two parts (1867- 
1878 and 1878-1889), and explains as follows: "The 
former was occupied with testing the capacity of the 
people for self-government; the latter with extend- 
ing to them a larger and larger measure of power, 
and in advancing towards a proper degree of decen- 
tralization." As he wrote in 1890, he was just at 
the beginning of the third period, what he himself 
calls "a new period," during which local self- 
government, under the new constitutional regime, 
was to be still further expanded in the line of 
popular privileges. 

After the Shogunate fell, but before feudalism 
was formally abolished, that is, from 1867 to 1871, 
the chiefs of the clans were allowed to continue 
their administration of local affairs under the title 
of chi-hanji (local governor). But when feudalism 
was formally abolished in 1871, these feudal lords 
were retired on annuities ; their fiefs (263 in number) 
were incorporated, regardless of former geographical 
and feudal boundaries, and with regard for conven- 
ience of administration by the central government, 
into 72 Ken and 3 Fu ; and outsiders were largely 
appointed to the position of governor in these new 
local governments. The first attempts on the part 
of the central government to consult local public 
opinion were by means of meetings of the local offi- 
cials; but the people were gradually allowed, in 

1 See "Nation," toI. li. (1890). 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 135 

rather an informal and limited way, to have a voice 
in certain matters. In 1878, however, as we have 
seen, prefectural assemblies, the members of which 
should be chosen by popular election, were estab- 
lished; and just ten years later a law extending local 
self-government to cities, towns, and villages was 
enacted, to go into effect in 1889. And these two 
agencies of local self-government in Japan are worthy 
of a little study. 

The Japanese Kenkiuai and Fuhioai correspond, in 
general, with an American State legislature, but 
differ in many respects, because they are part of a 
centralized national administration. They are "to 
counsel about the budget of expenses to be met by 
local taxation, and about the manner of collecting 
such taxes." The members are elected in each Ken 
or Fu according to the population, at the rate of 
1 member for each 20,000 people. Each electoral 
district may also elect yobi-in (reserve members), 
twice the number of regular members. As their 
name indicates, they are to take the places of regular 
members who may for any reason be unable to serve. 
It is, therefore, unlikely that there would ever be a 
vacancy to be filled by a special election ; for each 
member has two " substitutes " ready to step into his 
vacant place ! The term of service covers 4 years ; 
but half of the members retire every 2 years. Each 
member receives an emolument of 1 yen ;per diem 
during the session, and travelling expenses. 

A candidate for representative in a prefectural as- 



136 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

sembly must be over 25 years of age, a permanent 
resident of that Ken or Fu^ and be paying an annual 
land-tax of more than 10 yen. Voters in such an 
election must be over 20 years of age, permanent 
residents of that Ken or #m, and be paying annual 
land-taxes of more than 5 yen. There are about 
2,000,000 voters in all. 

From among the members, the assembly elects a 
"standing committee of from five to seven persons," 
who serve for a period of two years. They remain 
in the capital throughout the year, to give advice 
when the Governor asks it about the manner and 
order of carrying out the enactments of the assembly 
and about the payment of extraordinary expense. A 
member of this committee receives "from 30 yen to 
80 yen per month, and travelling expenses." 

The ordinary annual session of an assembly opens 
some time in November and continues for not more 
than 30 days. But the Governor has power to call 
a special session and to suspend an assembly ; while 
the power to prorogue an assembly rests with the 
Minister of State for Home Affairs. 

Each session of an assembly is formally " opened " 
by the Governor; and the business to come before 
the assembly is presented in bills originating with 
him and his subordinates. At any time, when a 
member of the assembly wishes explanations concern- 
ing any matter within the purview of the assembly, 
the Governor or his representative must explain. In 
fact, such officials may speak at any time, provided 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 137 

they do not interrupt the speech of a member; but 
they have no vote. 

When a member wishes to address the assembly, 
he rises, calls out " Gicho " (Chairman), and gives 
the number of his seat. When the chairman has 
recognized him by repeating that number, he "has 
the floor. "^ 

If other matters, besides those included in the 
"original bill(s) " of the Governor, seem to at least 
two members to warrant discussion, they present 
these matters in the form of petitions; and if the 
assembly grants permission, these petitions may be 
discussed, like bills. 

No bill becomes a law until it has been signed by 
the Governor. If the latter does not agree with a 
bill, he may appeal to the Department of Home 
Affairs, where it will be finally decided. 

If we now endeavor to measure the extent and 
limitations of the power of a Japanese prefectural 
assembly, we may say that in theory a Kenhwai or 
a Fukwai is by no means entirely independent of the 
central government, nor does it possess absolute con- 
trol of the matters of its own Ken or Fu. It will be 
noticed that in all cases the final ratification or de- 
cision rests with the Governor or the Department of 
Home Affairs. The latter also has the power in its 
own hands of suspending an assembly at its discre- 
tion. It would seem, then, that theoretically a 

1 The sessions are generally very orderly ; no smoking or drink- 
ing is allowed in the assembly-room. 



138 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Fuhwai or a Kenhwai is pretty much under the con- 
trol of the central government, and has very little 
real power of its own. Its nature appears more like 
that of an elective advisory board than of a legisla- 
tive body. 

But, in practice and in fact, a wise Governor, 
though he is an appointive officer of the central gov- 
ernment, does not often put himself in opposition to 
public opinion, unless it be a case of the greatest 
importance; and the Department of Home Affairs is 
loath to exercise authority unless it is absolutely 
necessary. The central government holds the power 
to control these assemblies if it should be necessary; 
but it also respects public opinion, and allows local 
self-government as far as possible.^ 

The extension of local self-government to cities, 
towns, and villages {shi, cho^ and son) led to the in- 
troduction into the Japanese language of several 
special terms, like jumin (resident) and komin (citi- 
zen), and to a careful distinction between the respec- 
tive rights and duties of the two. The " residents " 

1 The principle of local self-government has been most signally- 
upheld in one instance by the Imperial Japanese government. 
Eecently the Governor of Gumma Prefecture, in the face -of the 
public opinion of that section, gave permission for the re-establish- 
ment of the system of licensed immorality. Inasmuch as the 
people of that prefecture have always taken gi-eat pride in the 
fact that their section was an oasis in the desert, they raised a 
great storm, and accused the Governor of having lent himself to 
speculators. Whether or not this accusation was true, the Minister 
of Home Affairs so far respected local opinion as to revoke the per- 
mission granted by the Governor and to remove the latter from 
office. 




STATESMEN OF NEW JAPAN 
VISCOUNT KATSUEA AND MARQUIS ITO 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 139 

of a city [town or village] include "all those who 
have their residence in the city [town or village], 
without distinction of sex, age, color, nationality, or 
condition in life. A "citizen," however, must be 
"an independent male person," that is, one who has 
completed his twenty-fifth year and has a household ; 
he must be " a subject of the empire and in the en- 
joyment of his civil rights " ; and for two years he 
must have been a resident of the given local division, 
must have contributed toward its common burdens, 
and must have paid therein a "national land-tax of 
2 or more yen in other direct national taxes." The 
rights of a citizen over and above his rights as a resi- 
dent are simply but comprehensively stated. They 
consist in the privilege of voting in the local elec- 
tions, and of eligibility to the honorary offices. 
There is, however, a slight qualification of this 
seemingly universal citizen suffrage. Those whose 
citizenship, for reasons to be given later, is sus- 
pended, and "those who are in actual military or 
naval service," are disfranchised. Companies, how- 
ever, and "other juristic persons" are entitled to the 
suffrage on similar conditions with individuals.^ 

But when we come to consider the duties of a citi- 
zen, we find peculiar conditions. The citizen of a 
Japanese city, town, or village, is under obligation 

1 Baron Kentaro Kaneko has been elected a member of the City 
Council (of Tokyo) as representative of the first-class tax-payers 
in Kojimachi Ku. It maybe added that the Nippon Yiisen Kwaisha 
(Japan Mail Steamship Company) is the only first-class tax-payer 
in that ward, and the Baron secured the one vote. 



140 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

to fill any honorary office to which he may be elected 
or appointed; and except for certain specified rea- 
sons he cannot decline official service without being 
" subjected to suspension of citizenship for from three 
to six years, together with an additional levy, during 
the same period, of from one-eighth to one-quarter 
more than his ordinary share of contribution to 
the city expenditure." Here is compulsory "public 
spirit"! On the whole, citizenship seems to be re- 
garded more as a duty than as a privilege ; and the 
citizens best qualified to fill official positions of trust 
would find it much more difficult than in America 
to "keep out of politics." 

The administration of local affairs in city, town, 
or village is more or less centralized. In the cities 
the origination and the administration of the local 
laws devolves upon a "city council"; and in the 
towns and the villages, upon certain chiefs and their 
deputies. 

A city council consists of a mayor, his deputy, 
and a certain number of honorary councilmen. The 
mayor is appointed directly by the Emperor from 
among three candidates previously selected by the 
city assembly, a body to be described later. The 
deputy-mayor and councilmen are elected by the city 
assembly. The councilmen hold office for four years, 
but half of them retire every two years. In the case 
of a very large city it is permissible to divide the 
city into Ku (wards), each with its own chief and 
deputy and even council and assembly. The func- 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 141 

tions of a city council include the preparation of 
business for the city assembly and the execution 
of the decisions of the assembly; the administration 
of the city revenue, and the carrying out of the 
budget voted by the assembly; and general superin- 
tendence of city affairs. 

In towns or villages these duties devolve upon 
the mayors and deputies, who are elected by the town 
or village assembly from among the local citizens. 

The city assembly, already mentioned, is a popular 
representative body. The number of members varies, 
in proportion to the population, from thirty to sixty ; 
and the membership is divided into three classes, 
elected by three classes of voters, according to the 
amount of taxes paid by the electors to the city. 
The object of this division, copied from the Prus- 
sian system of local government, seems to be to give 
the highest tax-payers a power and a representation 
greater than what they might secure by mere propor- 
tion of numbers.^ 

The assemblymen hold office for six years, are 
eligible for re-election, and, like the councilmen, 
draw no salary, but receive "compensation for the 
actual expenses needed for the discharge of their 
duties." The assemblymen go out in rotation every 
two years. 

The principal matters to be decided by the city 
assembly, besides the election of certain city officials , 
by secret ballot, are as follows: the making and 
1 See note at bottom of page 139. 



142 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

altering of city bj^-laws and regulations ; the voting 
of the budget and all matters involving expense ; the 
modes of imposing and collecting all kinds of taxes ; 
the incurring of a new liability or the relinquishment 
of an acquired right; the modes of management of 
city property and establishments; etc. 

The constitution of a town or village assembly is 
also based upon the population, according to a fixed 
ratio. But in the grouping of electors according to 
the amount of taxes paid, there are only two classes. 
The rules, powers, and functions of a town or vil- 
lage assembly correspond exactly to those of the city 
assembly. 

There are, in the case of towns and villages, two 
provisions which are not necessary in the case of 
cities. One provision prescribes a method by which 
two or more towns or villages, by mutual agreement 
and with the permission of the superintending au- 
thority, may form a union for the common adminis- 
tration of affairs that are common to them. The 
other provision prescribes that, by a town or village 
by-law, decided upon by the Gun council, " a small 
town or village may substitute for the town or vil- 
lage assembly a general meeting of all citizens having 
suffrage.'*'' This appears to be an imitation, in theory 
at least, of the Anglo-Saxon town meeting and 
village assembly. 

The privileges of local seK-government are ex- 
tended to all parts of the empire except Hokkaido 
and Formosa, which are administered as " territories " 




STATESMEN OF NEW JAPAN 
COUNT OKUMA, COUNT INOUYE, COUNT ITAGAKI, 
COUNT MATSUKATA 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 143 

by the central government. In Hokkaido, moreover, 
a small measure of local administration has been 
granted, and this will be enlarged as rapidly as 
possible. But Japanese rule in Formosa is worthy 
of special consideration, because it is illustrative of 
what Japan can do in bringing enemies under her 
jurisdiction into harmony with her government. 
Japanese colonial government in Formosa may be 
called a success. 

When Formosa ^ was ceded by China to Japan in 
1895, it was well understood that the Japanese had 
no easy task in pacifying the Chinese, civilizing the 
savages, and thus bringing the beautiful isle, with 
its great resources, under cultivation and proper re- 
straint. But, by a wise combination of military force 
and civil government, Japan has achieved a remark- 
able success. 

At first, for a brief period, Formosan affairs were 
under a separate department of State, that of Coloni- 
zation; but when administrative economy and re- 
form were demanded, this department was abolished, 
and the Governor-General of Formosa, appointed by 
the Emperor upon recommendation of the Cabinet, 
was made directly responsible to the Cabinet. At 
first, of course, mistakes were made, and a great deal 
of incapacity and corruption manifested themselves 
in official circles. But, by a gradual weeding out 
of the incompetent and the dishonest, the civil ser- 
vice has been greatly improved. Especially in deal- 

1 " The Island of Formosa " (Davidson) is invaluable. 



144 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

ing with opium smoking and foot-binding among 
the Chinese has the Japanese government shown 
remarkable tact. And it has also encouraged local 
administration among the natives to the extent of 
employing them in subordinate positions where they 
can be trained for future usefulness. 

The general policy of Japan in Formosa has been 
stated succinctly by Count Kabayama: "Subjugate 
it from one side by force of arms, and then confer 
on the subjugated portion the benefits of civil gov- 
ernment." It is the expressed determination to 
make Formosa, "body, soul, and spirit," a part of 
their empire ; and reliable testimony shows that they 
are making a success of their labors.^ 

We have now noticed the chief features of local 
self-government as applied in Japan to prefectures, 
counties, cities, towns, and villages. Although there 
are many enactments against which the democratic 
ideas of Americans would revolt, the system is cer- 
tainly well adapted to the present needs and capabili- 
ties of Japan. It is an interesting fact that Japan's 
political institutions have been developed, since the 
Restoration of 1868, from the top downward. In 
Japan the people are conservative, and the govern- 
ment is progressive; and the people are simply 
under the necessity of growing up to political privi- 
leges that are gradually bestowed upon them. And 
we may feel assured that, as the people show them- 
selves capable of exercising power, their privileges 

1 See Appendix. 



LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 145 

will be gradually extended. We should not find 
fault with Japan, because in only a few years she 
has not leaped into the enjoyment of political privi- 
leges which the English and American people ob- 
tained only after centuries of slow and often bloody 
development; but we should congratulate Japan, 
because by peaceful measures she has gradually re- 
moved herself entirely out of the pale of Oriental 
absolutism, bej^ond even despotic Russia, and may 
be classed with her model, Germany. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Especially helpful are lyenaga's "Constitutional Develop- 
ment of Japan," Wigmore's articles in the " Nation," and several 
papers in the Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan. See 
also the author's " Local Self-Government in Japan " in the 
" Political Science Quarterly " for June, 1892, and " A Japanese 
State Legislature" in the "Nation" for February 27, 1890. 
On the subject of Formosa, besides Davidson's book already 
mentioned, see chap. xiv. of Ransome's "Japan in Transition " 
and pp. 167, 169, of Diosy's "New Far East." 



10 



CHAPTER XI 
JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 

Outline of Topics: Standards of world power; conscription; 
draft and exemption ; army ; arms and ammunition ; officers of the 
army ; navy ; types of Japanese war-vessels ; coal supply ; " Blue- 
jacket Spirit"; Japan as a sea power; growth of cosmopolitan 
spirit; Anglo-Japanese Alliance, — natural, guarantee of peace, 
confession of England's weakness, admission of Japan's strength ; 
Japan's responsibility ; meaning for Christianity ; the United States 
a silent partner. — Bibliography. 

IT is a sad commentary on the present standards 
of civilization that a consideration of Japan as 
a world power requires special attention to 
military and naval affairs. It is rather a strange 
coincidence that it was not until little Japan in 1894 
showed that she could easily overcome immense China 
that the " Great Powers " were willing to revise 
their treaties with her on terms of equality and ad- 
mit her to the comity of nations. And it is another 
strange coincidence that it was the Boxer troubles 
which gave Japan another opportunity to display the 
efficiency of her military and naval organizations, and 
win such laurels side by side with troops of the other 
" Powers," that Great Britain, the mightiest of them 
all, abandoned her time-honored policy of " splendid 
isolation " and sought Japan's assistance by means 



JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 147 

of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. It is not, however, 
to be imagined that Great Britain overlooked or ig- 
nored Japan's other elements of power ; but it is quite 
evident that the latter's military and naval efl&ciency 
made a great impression on the former. Therefore 
it is our duty, having considered Japan's geographical, 
industrial, commercial, social, historical, and political 
features, to take up now her polemic ability. 

The Japanese army and navy are created and sus- 
tained, as to persomiel, by a conscription system, 
quite like that of Germany. Theoretically, " all 
males between the full ages of 17 and 40 years, who 
are Japanese subjects, shall be liable to conscrip- 
tion." ^ This period is, moreover, divided up as 
follows : (1) Active service with the colors, for 3 
years in the army and 4 years in the navy, by those 
who have " attained the full age of 20 years " ; so 
that those who are between 17 and 20 are apparently 
exempt except " in time of war or other emergency " ; 
(2) First Reserve term, of 4 years in the army and 
3 years in the navy, "by such as have completed 
their service with the colors " ; (3) Second Reserve 
term of 5 years, " by those who have completed their 
service in the First Reserves " ; and (4) Service in 
the Territorial Army for the remaining years by those 
who have completed the preceding term. But the last 
three services are merely nominal, as the First and 
Second Reserves and the Territorial Army are ordi- 
narily called out only for drill once a year and are 

1 Quotations from Eegulations. 



148 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

mobilized, in order, " in time of war or of emergency." 
Therefore tlie actual service in barracks is generally- 
only 3 years. 

A very thorough method of drafting carries into 
effect these provisions, and would make more than 
200,000 young men annually liable to service. But, 
as this is a much larger number than the government 
could possibly care for, or would need in times of 
peace, there is a " sweeping system of exemptions " 
that brings the number of conscripts down within 
practical limits. This system takes into account 
physical conditions, educational courses, individual 
and family necessities, official duties, business re- 
quirements, etc. Even then the number of those 
available who pass the examination is too large, so 
that it is reduced by lot. Those who are finally en- 
rolled are divided up among the various lines of 
service according to physique, former occupation and 
attainments. " Conscripts for active naval service 
shall be selected from youths belonging to the sea- 
coast or insular districts." The term of active service 
is computed from December 1 of each year ; so that 
the days just preceding or following that day are 
busy ones for those who are either giving new con- 
scripts a fine send-off or welcoming home those whose 
terms have expired. 

Japan is divided, for military purposes, into seven 
districts, each of which is occupied by a division. The 
headquarters of these districts are located, respec- 
tively, at Tokyo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, 




MILITAEY LEADERS OF NEW JAPAN" 
FIELD-MARSHAL OYAMA AND FIELD-MARSHAL YAMAGATA 



JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 149 

Kumamoto, and Sapporo. There is also the Imperial 
Guard, with headquarters, of course, at Tokyo : they 
are to be distinguished from other soldiers by having 
a red instead of a yellow band around the cap, and 
are " a picked corps," who present a very fine appear- 
ance. The war-footing of the Japanese army exceeds 
500,000 men, and its peace-footing is almost 200,000 : 
these figures take account only of combatants. The 
discipline, courage, and endurance of the Japanese 
army have been clearly exhibited side by side with 
the troops of Occidental nations in China, and have 
suffered naught by comparison. The army has been 
called " the most formidable mobile land force in the 
Far East, indeed in the whole of Asia," and " the 
best army in the world, for its size." And the re- 
markable manner in which the various parts of the 
service cooperate and smoothly carry out the general 
plans has won the admiration of capable critics.^ 

The guns for the artillery service used to be pur- 
chased abroad, but are now chiefly manufactured in 
Osaka. There is an excellent arsenal in the Koishi- 
kawa District of Tokyo ; it is on part of the site of the 
magnificent yashihi (mansion) of the Prince of Mito, 
whose beautiful garden still remains a delight to all 
visitors. This arsenal is where the once famous 
Murata rifle was formerly manufactured ; but that 
has been superseded by the " 30th Year " (of Meiji) 
rifle; and both of these are Japanese inventions. 

1 For statistics and other information concerning the army and 
the navy, see Appendix. 



150 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The arsenal is also turning out ammunition at the 
ordinary rate of a million rounds a day. 

According to the Constitution, the Emperor "has 
the supreme command of the army and the navy " ; 
and under him come the Minister of War, the actual 
Commander-in-Chief, the Chief of Staff, the generals 
and other officers and officials in order. The Em- 
peror is not expected to take command in person; 
but often one of the Imperial Princes will act as 
Commander-in-Chief in the field. There are now 
only two living Field-Marshals, Marquis Yamagata 
and Marquis Oyama. Tliere are various schools for 
educating and training the officers of the army and 
the navy. 

As Japan is entirely an insular nation, the impor- 
tance of her navy cannot be over-estimated. Even 
before the war with China, the Japanese navy had 
been rapidly growing ; and it showed its marked ef- 
ficiency in the battles of the Yalu and Wei-hai-wei 
(1894, 1895). The post-bellum plans for expansion 
have, moreover, emphasized the value to Japan of 
sea-power; and the programme of naval expansion, 
in spite of increased burdens of taxation, has met 
comparatively little opposition. For purposes of ad- 
ministration, the coast of Japan is divided into five 
naval districts, each with one fort which is a first- 
class naval station. These stations are Yokosuka, 
Kure, Sasebo, Maizuru, and (to be established) Muro- 
ran. The navy at present includes battleships, cruis- 
ers, ships for coast defence, gunboats, torpedo boats. 



JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 151 

torpedo catchers, and despatch ships. Of the first 
four kinds there are two or three classes in each ; 
and of battleships there are four first-class ones of 
more than 15,000 tons each. The organization of the 
navy is similar to that of the army : below the Em- 
peror, who is nominally in supreme command, come 
the Minister of the Navy, the actual Commander- 
in-Chief, the Chief of Staff, the admirals, etc. 

Attention should be called to two or three points 
emphasized by Mr. Arthur Diosy.^ The first is that 
" Nelson's own plan, as valid to-day. as it was in his 
time," has been carried out in the types of vessels 
built for the Japanese fleet. " The main idea prevail- 
ing in their selection is the defence of the national 
interests by offensive operations against the enemy's 
fleets," but " at no very great distance from the base 
of operations at home." The warships of Japan, 
therefore, are not required to devote so much space 
to the storage of coal and other supplies for , long 
voyages, and can utilize more space for guns and re- 
serve ammunition, or can be built smaller and " han- 
dier." It is in this way that "they are among the 
swiftest of all the fighting ships afloat." 

The second point, which is related to the first, is 
that Japan " stands in the foremost rank as a naval 
power," not merely on account of the number and 
fighting strength of her sliips, the efficiency of their 
officers and crews, and the perfection of the naval 
organization, but also on account of the well-equipped 

1 " The New Par East," chap. vii. 



152 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

dockyards and arsenals in convenient locations, and 
the abundant supply of excellent coal in easy reach. 

The third point concerns what Diosy calls the 
"Blue-jacket Spirit," a " scarcely definable something''' 
that is hard to describe in words, but that shines forth 
in every word and deed of the officer, the sailor, 
the marine, — the esprit de corps of the personnel of 
the Japanese navy. This spirit he finds only in the 
British, Japanese, and United States navies. 

And we cannot refrain from quoting the same 
writer's paragraph of summary as follows : — 

" Japan possesses all the elements of Sea-Power : 
swift, powerful ships, adapted to the work they are 
intended for, numerous good harbors, excellent coal 
in abundance, capital facilities for the repair of her 
vessels, and the necessary plant, constantly augmented 
and improved, for building new ones. Her naval or- 
ganization is wise and efficient, her administrative ser- 
vices are thorough and honest; her naval offi.cers are 
gallant, dashing, and scientifically trained, and the arma- 
ment they control is of the latest and best pattern. 
Strong in ships, strong in guns, Japan is stronger still in 
the factor without which ships and guns are useless — 
' the Man behind the Gun.' " ^ 

Ten years ago it was improper to speak of Japan 
as a world power ; it was then fitting to treat of her, 
as Norman did in one chapter of his " Real Japan," 
under the caption of " Japan as an Eastern Power." 
But, as already pointed out, it was her overwhelming 

1 "Any foreign power that should venture to attack Japan in 
her own waters, would be strangely advised." — Chamberlain. 




NAVAL LEADERS OF JAPAN" 
ADMIEAL KABAYAMA AND ADMIRAL ENOMOTO 



JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 153 

defeat of China that at least expedited her formal 
and nominal recognition in the comity of nations. 
The new treaties which formulated this recognition 
went into effect in 1899, from which date it may be 
eminently proper to begin a seventh period,^ that of 
" Cosmopolitanism," in the history of New Japan. 
And by Japan's successes in the second war with 
China arising out of the Boxer troubles, she con- 
firmed her claim to recognition as a world power ; 
and this recognition was completed through the 
Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902. Not many years 
ago the ideal was still such a narrow theme as " The 
Japan of the Japanese " ; then the vision widened out 
so as to include " The Japan of Asia " ; but now the 
horizon is unlimited and extends to " The Japan of 
the World." Indeed, the Japanese have outgrown 
"Native Japan," and even "Asiatic Japan," into 
"Cosmopolitan Japan." They are interested, not 
only in national, but also international, problems. 

It has already been pointed out that the complete 
recognition of Japan as a world power was mani- 
fested in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. This is the 
greatest political event of 1902, so far as concerns 
directly the future of the Orient and indirectly the 
affairs of the Occident. This convention between 
Great Britain and Japan caused profound surprise 
and widespread rejoicing, and in Japan particularly 
it was the occasion for numerous feasts, even in 
various provincial localities, where more or less pro- 

1 See p. 104. 



154 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

fuse self-gratulation was the order of the day. But 
it is now possible to take a calmer view of the sit- 
uation and to make a more judicial estimate of the 
importance of the alliance. 

In the first place, it is well to remember that this 
formal alliance is only the natural outcome of a 
community of interests in the Far East, and is the 
natural result of practical cooperation for some time 
past. As Count Okuma put it, they (Great Britain 
and Japan) have been allies in effect for some years ; 
they are now allies in name. Indeed, for several 
years past this alliance has existed in spirit, and it 
has now merely become a public acknowledgment 
of sympathy and similar aims in policy in the Far 
East. This alliance, then, is not artificial or com- 
pulsory, but natural, spontaneous, and voluntary. 

The second point to notice is that the Anglo- 
Japanese Alliance includes the greatest power each 
of the Occident and of the Orient. This alliance is 
also the combination of two of the greatest naval 
powers, as well as two great military powers of the 
world. It would seem likely, therefore, as a promi- 
nent Japanese expressed it, " that there is no power 
or combination of powers that could make head 
against this uiiion in the Far East ; the attempt would 
be like spitting at a tiger." The Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance is, therefore, a guarantee, of the very first 
quality, of peace in the Orient, and of just dealings 
with China and Korea. 

Another important point in connection with this 



JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 155 

alliance is the fact that herein Great Britain has 
abandoned, has broken to pieces, her traditional pol- 
icy of " splendid isolation." For many decades she 
has not been in the habit of contracting alliances 
with other powers in carrjdng out plans to advance 
her own interests. The fact, therefore, that in this 
case she has seen fit to depart from her usual policy 
is a positive indication that the situation in the Far 
East was one of imminent peril and demanded un- 
usual precaution. It is a proof that Russian aggres- 
sions were no mere phantoms, but were terribly real 
and threatening. 

And the fact that, when Great Britain broke her 
policy of grand isolation, it was to enter into alliance 
with an Oriental rather than an Occidental power, 
is also one of great significance. It proves more 
effectively than folios of verbal a.rgument, and speaks 
out more loudly than a thousand tongues could tell, 
the present satisfactory status of Japan. The in- 
significant, " half-civilized " country of a few years 
ago is now " on the same lotus-blossom " with Great 
Britain. That little island-empire of the Orient is 
now but fifty years out of her own practically com- 
plete isolation from the rest of the world; she is 
only thirty years out of feudalism ; she has been 
only a little more than a decade in constitutionalism 
and parliamentary government, and she has been only 
a few years in the comity of nations by virtue of 
treaties on terms of equality ; nevertheless, she has 
become the political partner of that immense island- 



156 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

empire which stretches iu all directions, and encircles 
the globe with the drum-beat of her garrisons. The 
huge empire on whose possessions the sun never sets 
has taken as its ally the small empire of the rising 
sun! 

This recognition of the status of New Japan has 
been, of course, a matter of great pride and rejoicing 
to that nation and therefore a source of encourage- 
ment to continue steadfast in the paths of progress 
along w^hich she has been moving so rapidly. ^ It 
has likewise been recognized that this alliance im- 
poses great responsibilities upon Japan, if she would 
maintain her new position.^ These responsibilities 
are along not only military, naval, political, and 
commercial lines, but also along social, moral, and 
religious lines. The new alliance means. that licen- 
tiousness, dishonesty, and other vices should not be 
tolerated, and that ignorance, superstition, and idol- 
atry should not be allowed to thrive among a people 
in alliance with such a progressively Christian nation 
as Great Britain. In other words, this alliance should 
hasten the spread of the Gospel in Japan. 

But this alliance means much to Christianity, not 
merely in Japan, but over all the Orient. For the 

1 " Japan, geographically to the mighty continent of Asia what 
Great Britain is to the continent of Europe ; Japan, an island 
people with all the strength, mental and physical, that is the heri- 
tage of a nation cradled on the sea ; Japan, by the necessities of 
her environment compelled to appreciate the importance of sea- 
power ; Japan, in short, the Britain of the Orient. " — Diost. 

2 The first alliance of a white nation and a yellow nation. 



JAPAN AS A WORLD POWER 157 

prime objects of the alliance are the independence 
of Korea and the integrity of the Chinese Empire; 
and the prime effect of the alliance is peace in the 
Orient. This means that Russian aggressions in 
China and Korea will be, already have been, con- 
siderably checked, and that Anglo-Saxon and Jap- 
anese influences will be paramount in those countries. 
And all this means that Christian missionary work 
will be practically unhindered, unless it be by local 
and spasmodic prejudice; and that the word will 
have freer course and be glorified. The alliance 
of the first nation of Christendom with a largely 
Christianized nation like Japan cannot fail to Chris- 
tianize the Far East. 

Finally, one significant phase of the Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance is the fact that, to all intents and purposes, 
it includes the United States of America, which may 
be called a " silent partner." It is well known that 
the convention was shown at Washington before it 
was promulgated, and that it was heartily approved 
by our government. Practically, therefore, it is, in 
a very broad sense, an Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 
Certainly our interests in the Far East have been 
and are identical with those of Great Britain and 
Japan; and all our "moral influence," at least, 
should be exerted toward the purposes of that con- 
vention. Indeed, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance should 
mean the union of Great Britain and the United 
States with Japan to maintain in the Orient the 
" open door," not merely of trade and commerce, 



158 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

but of all social, intellectual, moral, and religious 
reforms; the open door, not of material civilization 
only, but also of the gospel of Jesus Christ.^ 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

"The Real Japan" (Norman), chaps, v., xiii. ; "Advance 
Japan" (Morris), chap, xiii.; "The New Far East" (Diosy), 
especially chap. vii. ; " Heroic Japan " (Eastlake and Yamada) ; 
"The Awakening of the East" (Leroy-Beaulieu), chap, ix; 
and "Japan in Transition" (Ransome), chap. xv. 

1 Several paragraphs are here republished, by permission, from 
•' The Standard," Chicago. 



CHAPTER XII 
LEGAL JAPAN 

Optline of Topics : Justice in Old Japan ; new codes ; list of 
same ; crimes and punishments ; convicts ; police ; arrest ; trials ; 
courts; judiciary; prisons; legalized prostitution; crusade against 
social evil; rescue homes, etc. — Eegistration. — Taxation. — For- 
eigners under Japanese law ; restrictions upon them. — Leasing 
land. — Mines. — Railways. — Banking, insurance, etc. ; kinds of cor- 
porations ; foreign associations ; Japanese corporations. — Foreign- 
ers in business. — Bibliography. 

THE difference between Old Japan and New 
Japan is quite clearly evident when one 
comes to the study of law and jurispru- 
dence. It would be very misleading to affirm that 
the administration of justice was a farce ; and yet so- 
called legal decisions were too often arbitrary and 
tyrannical. The feudal lords were too much inclined 
to visit summary and cruel punishment on slight pre- 
text ; and altogether too few were the men like Ooka, 
the justice and wisdom of whose decisions won for 
him the title of " Japanese Solomon." As a matter 
of fact, there was in Old Japan, as Wigmore has 
abundantly shown,^ " a legal system, a body of clear 
and consistent rules, a collection of statutes and of 
binding precedents." The chief characteristics of 

^ See his voluminous work in Transactions Asiatic Society of 
Japan, vol. xx., Supplement. 



160 A HAm)BOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Japanese justice under the old regime, as indicated by 
Wigmore, were the following : (1) Making justice "per- 
sonal, not impersonal," by balancing " the benefits 
and disadvantages of a given course, not for all time 
in a fixed rule, but anew in each instance," and thus 
"to sacrifice legal principle to present expediency"; 

(2) the feudal spirit, especially in criminal law, as 
illustrated by the use of torture, humiliating forms 
of procedure, and awfully severe punishments; and 

(3) the attainment of justice, " not so much by the 
aid of the law as by mutual consent," by means of 
definite customs, applied, however, " through arbitra- 
tion and concession," so that there was " a universal 
resort to arbitration and compromise as a primary 
means of settling disputes," and only a dernier ressort 
to the process of law. These characteristics should 
be noticed, not merely on account of their historical 
value, but in explanation of certain traits still prom- 
inent even in New Japan. 

But Modern Japan is pretty well equipped with a 
system of new codes, based on European models, yet 
showing some modifications to suit Japan's peculiar 
needs. This codification along Western lines was 
strongly opposed by the conservatives, who insisted 
that national codes, " interpreting national needs," 
should be naturally developed in due course of time. 
But this opposition was overcome by the demands 
for treaty revision and the recognition of Japan in 
the comity of nations ; for Occidental powers would 
not remove their extra-territorial jurisdiction and 



LEGAL JAPAN 161 

leave their nationals to the mercy of Japanese courts, 
unless the laws were codified according to Western 
models. 

A list of the new codes is taken, with slight modi- 
fications, from Chamberlain's " Things Japanese," 
which has been especially helpful in the preparation 
of this chapter. 

The new codes resulting froni the legislative ac- 
tivity of the present reign are : (1) the Criminal Code 
and the Code of Criminal Procedure, drafted by 
Monsieur Boissonade, on the basis of the Code 
Napoleon, with modifications suggested by the old 
Japanese Criminal Law ; these were published in 
1880, and came into force in 1882 ; the Code of 
Criminal Procedure was, however, revised in 1890, 
in order that it might be uniform with the Code of 
Civil Procedure, according to the provisions of (2) 
the Law of the Organization of the Judicial Courts, 
promulgated in the month of February, 1890, and put 
into force on November 1 of the same year ; (3) the 
Code of Civil Procedure, which went into effect at 
once ; (4) the Civil Code, and (5) the Commercial 
Code, which were put into force in 1898 ; and (6) 
divers statutes on miscellaneous subjects.^ 

There are, according to the Japanese Criminal 
Code, three kinds of crimes, of two degrees, major 

^ These new codes are available in English, as follows : The 
Civil Code, by Gubbins ; the Civil Code and tlie Commercial Code, 
by Lonholm and Terry ; the Commercial Code, the Criminal Code, 
and the Code of Civil Procedure, in official translations. 
11 



162 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

and minor. The three kinds are: (1) against the 
State or the Imperial Family, and in violation of the 
public credit, policy, peace, health, etc. ; (2) against 
person and property ; and (3) police offences. Major 
crimes are punishable by (1) death by hanging ; (2) 
deportation with or without hard labor, for life or for 
a term of years; and (3) imprisonment on similar 
terms. Minor crimes are punishable by fines and 
confinement with or without hard labor. What are 
called police offences are punishable by small fines 
running from 5 sen to 2 yen, and by detention for from 
1 to 10 days without hard labor. In cases of cap- 
ital punishment no public visitors, only the necessary 
officials, are allowed to be present. Deportation is 
usually made to the northern island of Yezo, to work 
generally in the mines. 

Convicts are easily recognizable by their " crushed 
strawberry " uniforms, and are often seen in public ; 
for convict labor, in the case both of individuals 
and of gangs, is utilized by the authorities. In 
fact, all prisoners, according to their abilities, are 
required to labor nine hours each day in some 
kind of employment, either inside or outside of the 
prison. 

The Japanese policeman is one of the most inter- 
esting " characters " of his nation. He is the suc- 
cessor of the samurai, who, in the old regime, took 
upon themselves the duty of enforcing justice. He 
possesses all the pomp and dignity of his knightly 
predecessor; and he, too, carries a sword. All the 



LEGAL JAPAN 163 

people, from children up to grandfather, stand in 
complete awe of him. And well may they be afraid ; 
for in his dealings, at least with the common people, 
he manifests no gentleness, but by his dictatorial 
manners compels the utmost respect for himself and 
the law. He seldom has to use force in making an 
arrest, unless in the cases of the professional crim- 
inals; and he does not usually find it necessary to 
use handcuffs, as a strong cord will serve his purpose 
on ordinary occasions. He is more easily to be found, 
when wanted, than the proverbial American police- 
man. He is poorly paid, but richly faithful, and in 
every sense of the words upholds the dignity of the 
law. His figure clad in white or blue uniform, re- 
spectively, for five and seven months of the year, is 
familiar and welcome to foreigners, because to them 
he is invariably kind and courteous. 

When a person suspected of some crime or mis- 
demeanor has been arrested by the police, he is taken 
to the nearest detention station and put through a 
preliminary investigation before the judge of the 
local court. As this may be delayed, and bail al- 
lowed or not at the discretion of the judge, accused 
persons are sometimes kept in detention for a con- 
siderable period. No counsel is allowed at this 
secret preliminary examination before a kind of jus- 
tice of peace. The latter, from the evidence, either 
dismisses the prisoner, or imposes a suitable punish- 
ment, or remands him for trial before the proper 
court, 



164 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

A trial in Japan, as in France, is of the " inquisi- 
torial " type, and is conducted by the judge (or judges) 
alone. "All questions by counsel must be put 
through him. Counsel do not so much defend their 
clients as represent them." Witnesses are sworn, so 
to speak, by " a solemn asseveration," without " any 
religious sanction " ; and this takes the form of a 
written document "duly signed and sealed," The 
government is represented by the public procurator, 
who seems to combine in one person the duties of 
inspector, grand jury, and prosecuting attorney. 
Hearsay evidence is admitted ; and circumstantial 
evidence has no small influence. 

Japanese courts are organized according to the 
French system, with some modifications along Ger- 
man lines. They are four in kind, from the Local 
Court, through the District or Provincial Court, 
and the Court of Appeal, up to the Supreme Court. 
The local courts have jurisdiction over police of- 
fences and some minor crimes ; the district courts 
conduct preliminary investigations and have jurisdic- 
tion over crimes ; the courts of appeal hear new trials ; 
while the supreme court hears criminal appeals on 
matters of law. Japanese courts are very solemn 
places, with strict regulations as to costume, cere- 
mony, and conduct. 

The Japanese judiciary is, by this time, pretty 
much weeded out of the old judges with antiquated 
notions, and consists very largely of comparatively 
young men, educated in the modern systems. A 





COUET BUILDINGS, TOKYO, AND THE MINT, OSAKA 



LEGAL JAPAN 165 

graduate of the Law College of the Imperial Uni- 
versity may attain a seat on the bench after three 
years as a probationary judge, and one examination ; 
other persons must pass two severe examinations. 
The salary of an ordinary judge is small; and just 
after the Imperial Diet in 1901 had failed to pass a 
bill for increase of their salaries, a large number went 
on a strike! Judges are appointed, for life on good 
behavior. 

The management of the Japanese prison system 
will bear favorable comparison with that of any 
Western country ; for it has undergone considerable 
improvement of recent years, and is quite up to date. 
It is rather amusing to recall the fact that, before the 
new treaties came into effect, by which foreigners 
were to fall under Japanese jurisdiction, considerable 
anxiety was manifested lest American criminals, for 
instance, should suffer inconvenience in Japanese 
jails! And it was a singular coincidence that the 
first crime committed after the midnight when those 
treaties went into effect was by an American, who 
committed a triple murder in Yokohama. But the 
trial and treatment of Miller showed to the world 
that Japanese law and prisons were entirely un- 
worthy of the captious criticism that had been 
passed upon them. With commodious buildings, ex- 
tensive grounds, ventilated rooms, gardens and shops 
for laborers, hospitals for the sick, bath privileges, 
wholesome food, reading matter under certain lunita- 
tions, rewards for good behavior, part pay for labor, 



166 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

the Japanese prison, especially the largest ones at 
Tokyo, Yokohama, and other important cities, must 
be acknowledged to hold high rank among the refor- 
matory institutions of the world. 

This is, perhaps, as appropriate a place as any to 
introduce one of the peculiar legal institutions of 
Japan, that is, the public brothel. As is well known, 
the social evil is licensed, and therefore legalized, in 
Japan ; it is not merely not condemned, but actuall}^ 
condoned. In Old Japan the young girl willing to 
sell herself to a life of shame to relieve the poverty 
and distress of her parents would be considered vir- 
tuous, because filial piety was regarded as a higher 
virtue than personal chastity. Nor would the parents 
who accepted such relief be severely condemned, 
because the welfare of the family was more important 
than the condition of the individual. And even in 
Modern Japan, in the eyes of the law, it is no crime 
to visit a licensed house of ill-fame ; and visitors to 
such places hand in their cards and have their names 
and addresses registered, just as if they were attend- 
ing an ordinary public function. Nay more, an ex- 
President of the Imperial University, and one of the 
leading philosophers and educators of the day, has 
come out in public print and affirmed that, from the 
standpoint of science and philosophy, he can see no 
evil in prostitution per se. And when such licensed 
brothels are allowed near Buddhist temples and 
Shinto shrines, it would appear as if those cults 
were really culpable not to protest. Indeed, when 



LEGAL JAPAN 167 

the patriotic youth of New Japan, wishing to pay 
homage at the most famous shrines of Ise, are com- 
pelled to reach the spot by passing along a road 
hned on both sides with legalized brothels, it looks 
as if official encouragement to impurity was offered, 
or at least temptation was presented, to the rising 
generation. 

But Christianity has always taught, in Japan as 
elsewhere, that prostitution, whether licensed or un- 
licensed, is a sin, and has sought by various means 
to check this terrible evil. Formerly no girl was 
able to escape from her awful slavery, no matter how 
much she desired to free herself, except by permission 
of the keeper ! But within the past few years a 
campaign has been waged that has greatly weakened 
the tyranny of the abominable system. A test case, 
bitterly fought at every point, was carried up through 
all the courts to the highest, and finally won by 
those who contended that a girl could not be kept in 
a brothel against her will. Another test case, carried 
up to the Supreme Court, and decided in favor of 
the keepers, to the effect that the financial obliga- 
tions of the girls are valid in law, has given the 
reform movement a temporary set-back. But, in 
spite of all obstacles and opposition, the crusade 
against the social evil has achieved a large measure 
of success. About 12,000 girls have been set free ; 
the number of applicants for admission, as well as of 
unlicensed prostitutes, has diminished ; the number of 
visitors has so largely decreased, that some brothels 



168 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

have been compelled to go into bankruptcy and close 
up the business ; public opinion has been aroused, 
and the moral tone of society has been elevated and 
purified. 

We must not fail to call attention to the fact that 
the destructive work of this crusade has been sup- 
plemented by the constructive work of estabhshing 
" rescue homes " under the auspices of the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union, the Salvation Army, 
and other Christian organizations. There is also a 
very large and successful Home for ex-Convicts, 
conducted in Tokyo by Mr. Hara, a Christian min- 
ister, often called the "Howard of Japan." This 
title might also be given to Mr. Tomeoka, another 
Christian minister, who has made a special study 
of penology and prison management, and is con- 
ducting both a " reform school " and a " school for 
prison officials." 

Inasmuch as Japan is under a paternal government, 
the system of registration is carefully and thor- 
oughly employed. It is practically ubiquitous and 
universal; and it is carried to such an extreme as to 
be vexatious to Anglo-Saxons, especially to Americans. 
But to a Japanese the seki (register) is all important ; 
it is the certificate of his (or her) very existence, 
age, status, occupation, home (permanent or tem- 
porary), and almost of the character of the individual. 
In case of change of residence, this biographical 
sketch must be transferred from one locality to 
another; and even in case of travel, or presence in 



LEGAL JAPAN 169 

a hotel for a single night only, the guest must give 
an account of himself to the proprietor according 
to certain blanks supphed by the police. A for- 
eigner is concerned with the following information 
by Dr. Masujiuia, the eminent lawyer and jurist of 
Tokyo : — 

" A foreign householder who intends to stay for more 
than nine days at one place in Japan, must, within ten 
days of his arrival, report to the police regarding him- 
self and persons in his company, stating full particulars, 
ages, profession or other occupation, the place from 
which they last came, their home domicile, and the 
relationship of those persons with him ; as well as the 
full address of the house in which he lives, counter- 
signed by the landlord, any changes in such information 
to be treated in like manner from time to time." 

The subject of taxation is one which may well be 
mentioned in this chapter, although it is scarcely 
profitable to devote much space thereto. In Old Japan 
taxes were paid in kind, chiefly with rice ; but in 
New Japan they are payable only with cash. The 
system of taxation is rather complicated and oppres- 
sive ; and yet the people stoically endure their bur- 
dens without indulging in the pastime of agrarian 
riots. The land-tax of 3^ per cent of the assessed 
value of the land in the case of rural lands and 5 
per cent in the case of urban lands is a very impor- 
tant source of revenue, and has lately been the cause 
of great trouble in political circles. Other taxes are 
the business tax, the income tax, the house tax, etc. 



170 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The last mentioned is the one which foreigners 
claimed to be exempt from paying, but the Japanese 
government claimed to have the authority to levy; 
the question has been submitted to arbitration, and is 
still suh judiee. Under the new treaties Japan has 
the right to levy duties on imports, and thereby 
secures considerable revenue. In the list of articles 
exempt from duties we find books, maps, charts, 
bullion, coins, cotton, flax, hemp, jute, rice, wool, 
plants, trees, shrubs, etc. ; and in the list of pro- 
hibited articles opium and adulterations are most 
prominent.^ 

Inasmuch as the status of foreigners under Japan- 
ese law is a subject of growing practical importance, 
we make extracts from an address delivered by Dr. 
Masujima before the New York State Bar Associa- 
tion in January, 1903: — 

"The cases in which foreigners are restricted in the 
enjoyment of private rights, are the ownership of land 
or Japanese ships, the right to work mines, to own 
shares in the Bank of Japan or the Yokohama Specie 
Bank, to be members or brokers of exchanges, to engage 
in emigration business, or to receive bounties for navi- 
gation or ship building. Any company must, in order 
to own Japanese ships, have its principal office in Japan, 
and all members in case of a Gomel Kaisha, all unlim- 
ited liability members in case of either a Goshi Kaisha 
or Kabushiki Goshi Kaisha, and all directors in case 
of a limited company, must be Japanese subjects. 

1 See " General View of Commerce and Industry in the Empire 
of Japan," 



LEGAL JAPAN 171 

Otherwise foreigners are as free as the Japanese to 
own shares in any Japanese commercial companies 
organized by themselves alone, or in combination with 
the Japanese, or to engage in any manufacture or other 
commercial operations. 

" Foreigners may hold a long lease of land to plant 
trees or erect permanent structures, which may be 
arranged for an indefinite term almost perpetual, such 
as one thousand years, or as long as may be agreed 
upon. Such a holding is called superficies, and it is 
very much like a long English lease, the only dif- 
ference being that trees or buildings do not, at the 
end of the term, revert to the landlord, his right being 
only that of pre-emption at current valuation. The 
most advisable way for the enjoyment of the actual 
and permanent holding of land is for a foreigner to 
buy land himself through a Japanese, as bare trustee, 
and to secure its superficies for the period of as long 
a term as may be desirable for his purposes. 

" Although no foreigners may work mines individually, 
they may be taken on mortgage, and a company regis- 
tered as a Japanese organization is entitled to engage 
in mining; the theory is that foreigners as members 
merge themselves in the entity of a Japanese cor- 
poration, although it may be composed of foreigners 
exclusively. 

"No railway or tramway business is allowed to be 
carried on unless by a limited company and a con- 
cession for such purpose has to be secured from the 
proper authorities. No such railway can be pledged, 
but it may be hypothecated. Japanese pledge corre- 
sponds to English mortgage, differing therefrom in that 
immediate transfer of possession and holding the pledged 
property absolutely is essential. Hypothecation does 
not carry possession nor the right of entry. This con- 



172 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

dition of Japanese railway law has not satisfied cap- 
italists as not affording sufficient security to induce 
investment by them. There has been some attempt 
to have this law altered, but it has not yet been 
accomplished. 

"Banking, insurance, shipping, and all other kinds 
of commercial business may be carried on in Japan 
by foreign companies by observing the treaties and 
certain regulations, such as the registration of their 
branch offices, their representatives or other matters 
prescribed by law. 

" There are two kinds of civil corporations, the one 
consisting of persons associated together, and the other 
an estate of aggregate property somewhat like a trust 
in English law, formed or established for the purpose 
of religious worship, teaching, art, charity, education, 
or any other object of public benefit, not aiming at the 
making of a profit. Such a corporation can come in 
existence only with the permission of the competent 
authorities, while Japanese commercial corporations 
may be formed without it, 

" No foreign association of persons or trust property 
is accorded the same rights and privileges as are enjoyed 
by similar Japanese corporations; such a foreign cor- 
poration has no standing whatsoever in the Japanese 
courts, and the only way in which it could obtain 
protection would be to appear in the individual names 
of its members, just as used once to be the case in 
partnership actions. Purely technical evidence must 
be procured and filed before any legal proceeding can 
be initiated, and the best interests of the corporation 
might easily be jeopardized. Some foreign religious 
societies have sought to get themselves incorporated 
as Japanese corporations, but failed. Japan has no 
State religion, and she is absolutely impartial in reli- 



LEGAL JAPAN 173 

gious matters. Any religious body so applying must be 
and show itself to be a purely Japanese institution, 
free from all control of any sort from its corresponding 
religious bodies in foreign countries. Any legal con- 
nection whatever between the home body and Japanese 
organization is a bar to such purpose.^ 

" A Japanese corporation has almost as large privileges 
as a Japanese subject. It can own land and exercise 
other rights not accorded to individual foreigners. A 
corporation so organized may contain in its ranks for- 
eign members, but it must be of such a nature as not to 
be under any danger of control of any kind from outside. 
Even after incorporation, the charter will be forfeited 
should the policy of the Japanese Government be at 
any time prejudiced by the conduct of a corporation 
so sanctioned. 

" If foreigners wish to do business in combination with 
the Japanese, the best way would be to form a Goshi 
Kaisha or limited partnership, they themselves carry- 
ing unlimited liability. To control a Kabushiki Kaisha, 
or limited company, they should own more than half 
the amount of capital, either by holding themselves or 
through their own nominees, and shares should be tied 
up so as not to allow their transfer without the consent 
of the board of directors. The advantage of any busi- 
ness being organized as a Japanese corporation consists, 
as the law now stands, in owning land and having the 
full rights of Japanese subjects." 

It should be added here that many prominent 
Japanese continue to urge that foreigners be allowed 
to own land, possibly under certain restrictions ; and 

1 But missionaries, as individuals, are able to unite in organizing 
a Japanese corporation. 



174 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

that such a privilege is quite likely to be granted 
before very long. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Suitable works of reference on this chapter are scarce. 
" The Yankees of the East " (Curtis), chap, viii., and " The 
Real Japan " (Norman), chaps, iii. and xi., furnish some mate- 
rial. Dr. Masujima's papers in the Transactions Asiatic Society 
of Japan on "The Japanese Legal Seal" (vol. xvii.) and 
"Modern Japanese Legal Institutions" (vol. xviii.) are quite 
instructive ; and so is Longford's " Summary of the Japanese 
Penal Codes " in vol. v. Some specific references have already 
been made in footnotes. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN ^ 

Outline of Topics : Not Western " new woman," but abstract, 
legal new woman in Japan. — Woman in old regime; wife in old 
regime; lack of "home"; woman anciently honored. — Legal status 
in Old Japan, in New Japan ; independent person ; marriage ; 
right of marriage ; husband and wife. — Divorce, — by arrange- 
ment and judicial. — Concubinage; child of a concubine. — Pros- 
pects of new woman ; openings for labor. — The " New Great 
Learning for Women." — Enlarged educational advantages; new 
schools. — Women in business. — The Empress and the Crown 
Princess. — The woman question ; further needs ; women and 
Christianity. — Bibliography. 

Ik NY intention of using the term " new woman " 
Z_^ in a jocose or satirical way is disclaimed at 
-^ -^ the outset. It is not our purpose to refer at 
all to such a creature as that called " new woman " 
in the Occident ; for it has not yet appeared to any 
great extent among the Japanese. It may be true, 
in some cases, that the modernized Japanese woman 
is "without gentleness or refinement," and may be 
called a " parody of a man " or a " sickening sort of 
person." But, as the " Jiji Shimpo" explains, "the 
process of the new woman's evolution may be disfig- 
ured by some accident " ; and "the new woman stands 

1 Portions of this chapter are reprinted by permission from the 
''American Journal of Sociology," March, 1903. 



176 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

out with objectionable salience because her environ- 
ment is so colorless." 

It is desired, in the first instance, to consider, not 
the new woman in the concrete, in the flesh, but 
the abstract, legal new woman that has been created 
by the new Civil Code of Japan. In looking through 
the translation of that document by Mr. Gubbins, 
we have been deeply impressed with the possibilities 
which lie before the women of New Japan through 
the rights and privileges vouchsafed to them under 
that code. 

In Old Japan, as stated in a preceding chapter, ^ 
the constitution of the family was practically that 
of an empire, in which all other members thereof 
were subject to the despotic authority of the master. 
A Japanese woman was subject to the " three obedi- 
ences ": as a maiden, to her father; as a wife, to her 
husband and his parents ; ^ as a widow, to her oldest 
son, whether real or only adopted. A daughter might 
even be called upon, for the sake of her parents, to 
sacrifice her honor and enter a brothel ; and she was 
still considered virtuous, because personal chastity 
was a lower virtue than filial piety. 

A Japanese, like a Grecian, wife was to her hus- 
band a faithful slave, "something better than his 
dog, a little dearer than his horse "; she was both a 
drudge and a plaything, to be cast aside as capriciously 

1 Chap. iv. on " People, Houses, Food, Dress." 

2 The Japanese mother-in-law is an awful tyrant ; but it is always 
the wife's mother-in-law. 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 177 

as a child throws away a toy. She must tamely 
submit to having concubines brought, perhaps, right 
into the house at the will of her lord ; or she herself 
might, under slight and flimsy pretexts, be divorced 
and sent back to her parents. The following " seven 
reasons for divorce " were laid down by a celebrated 
Japanese moralist: disobedience to father-in-law or 
mother-in-law; barrenness; lewdness; jealousy; lep- 
rosy or any like foul disease; garrulousness and 
prattling; stealing. 

It is, therefore, a misnomer to speak of " Japan- 
ese homes " of the old regime^ in the sense in which 
we use that little word "home" with all its depth 
and wealth of meaning and its associated thoughts of 
"love " and "sympathy." Indeed, the word "home " 
cannot be perfectly translated into the Japanese lan- 
guage, and is generally transferred bodily with the 
pronunciation homu. And one of the far-reaching 
results of Christian mission work in Japan has been 
the introduction of the idea and the ideal of the 
Christian home. 

It should, however, be constantly kept in mind 
that in the most ancient times women were highly 
esteemed, and even "used to play an important part 
on the political stage." In Shinto the central object 
of adoration is the sun, which is worshipped as a 
goddess. There have been seated on the imperial 
throne of Japan eight empresses, one of whom is 
famous for her martial valor and military exploits. 
It was when - Buddhism became powerful that Hin- 
12 



178 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

doo and Chinese conceptions of woman's position 
moulded public opinion and thus eventually changed 
the manners, customs, and laws of Japan so as to 
relegate woman to an abnormally inferior position. 
As only one striking example out of many possible 
illustrations of the relative positions of man and 
woman, we note that, in the case of the death of the 
husband, the law prescribed mourning garments for 
thirteen months and abstinence from impurity for 
fifty days ; but, in the case of the death of the wife, 
mourning garments for three months and abstinence 
for twenty days were sufficient. 

Mr. Gubbins in the introduction to Part II. of his 
translation of the Civil Code, writes as follows : — 

"The legal position of women in Japan before the 
commencement of modern legislative reform is well illus- 
trated by the fact that offences came under different 
categories according to their commission by the wife 
against the husband, or by the husband against the wife, 
and by the curious anomaly that, while the husband 
stood in the first degree of relationship to his wife, the 
latter stood to him only in the second.^ The disabilities 
under which a woman formerly labored shut her out 
from the exercise of almost all rights. She could not 
inherit or own property in her own name, she could not 
become the head of a family, she could not adopt, and 
she could not be the guardian of her child. The maxim, 
mulier est finis familiae, was as true in Japan as in Rome, 
though its observance may have been less strict, owing 
to the greater frequency of adoption. 

1 Since 1882 they have been upon the same basis. 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 179 

"In no respect has modern progress in Japan made 
greater strides than in the improvement of the position 
of women. Though she still labors under certain dis- 
abilities, a woman can now become the head of a family 
and exercise authority as such ; she can inherit and 
own property and manage it herself; she can exercise 
parental authority ; if single, or a widow, she can adopt ; 
she is one of the parties to adoption effected by her hus- 
band, and her consent in addition to that of her husband 
is necessary to the adoption of her child by another per- 
son; she can act as guardian or curator; and she has a 
voice in family councils."^ 

Moreover, although it is true that for the per- 
formance of certain acts (Art. 14) a wife must ob- 
tain her husband's permission, and that a wife's acts 
may be annulled by her husband (Art. 120), yet it 
is explicitly stated that "a wife who has been per- 
mitted to engage in one or more businesses possesses 
in regard thereto the capacity of an independent 
person." 

But let us look a little more particularly into the 
provisions relating to marriage, divorce, etc. The 
marriageable age is 17 full years for men and 15 
full years for women. Marriage takes effect when 
notice of the fact is given to a registrar, by both 
parties with two witnesses. From this it will appear 
that the ceremony is a " purely social function, having 
no connection whatsoever with law beyond the some- 
what remote contingency of its being adducible as 

1 These are composed of a large circle of relativea, and exercise 
autocratic influence in most important questions. 



180 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

evidence of a marriage having taken place." And 
here is where some Japanese Christians make an 
unfortunate and sometimes serious mistake, in think- 
ing that the ceremony by a minister of the gospel is 
sufficient and registration is a matter of convenience. 
Without registration a marriage is not legal. 

The right of marriage is not free, except to the 
head of a family. ^ All other persons, whatever their 
ages, can marry only with the consent of the head 
of his or her family. Men under 30 and women 
under 25 cannot marry without the consent of the 
parents; and minors in some cases must obtain the 
consent of the guardian or even of a family council. 

In Art. 790 it is stipulated that " a husband and 
wife are mutually bound to support one another." 
A husband manages the property of his wife, unless 
he is unable to do so, when she manages it herself. 
" With regard to daily household matters, a wife is 
regarded as her husband's agent." 

There are two ways of effecting divorce : either by 
arrangement, which is effected in a similar way to 
marriage — that is, by simply having the registra- 
tion of marriage cancelled — or by judicial divorce, 
which may be granted on several grounds specified 
in the Code. But divorce by arrangement cannot 
be effected by persons under 25 years of age, without 
consent of the person or persons by whose consent 

1 The word "family" is here and hereinafter used in a technical 
sense, peculiar to Japan, of a group of the same surname. In Old 
Japan the family was the social unit. 





THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN AND THE PRINCESS IMPERIAL 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 181 

marriage was effectod. And if the persons who 
effect this kind of divorce fail to determine who is 
to have the custody of the children, they belong to 
the father ; but " in cases where the father leaves the 
family owing to divorce, the custody of the children 
belongs to the mother," evidently because she re- 
mains in the family. In other words, children are 
chattels of the family. 

The grounds on which judicial divorce is granted 
include bigamy, adultery on the part of the wife, the 
husband's receiving a criminal sentence for an offence 
against morality, cruel treatment or grave insult 
such as to render living together unbearable, deser- 
tion with evil intent, cruel treatment or gross insult 
of or by lineal ascendants. 

The new Civil Code indirectly sanctions concu- 
binage by stipulating (in Art. 827) that "an ille- 
gitimate child may be recognized by the father or 
mother" by giving notice to a registrar. Such a 
child is called shoshi, but is not legitimized. It is, 
however, stipulated (in Art. 728) that between a 
wife and a shoshi " the same relationship as that be- 
tween parent and child is established." That seems 
clearly enough to mean that a wife must accept a 
concubine's child as if it were her own, in case the 
father " recognizes " it. This would appear to be 
little, if any, advance over the old regime, where 
"the wife of the father," as she was technically 
called, frequently had to accept as her own child 
that of a concubine. 



182 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Mr. Gubbins makes the following explanation of 
shoshi : — ■ 

"This term illustrates the transitionary phase through 
which Japanese law is passing. Japanese dictionaries 
define shoshi as the child of a concubine, and this, so long 
as concubinage was sanctioned by law, and the question 
of legitimacy never arose, was the accepted meaning of 
the term. The law of Japan, which, in the course of its 
development on western lines, has come to accept the 
principle of legitimacy, and to admit of the legitimiza- 
tion of children by the subsequent marriage of their 
parents, now recognizes an intermediate stage between 
legitimacy and illegitimacy." 

Such is the general outline of the legal status of 
woman according to the new Civil Code. It will 
undoubtedly be most interesting to watch the gradual 
evolution of a new woman in Japan as the outcome 
of this legislation. It remains to be seen how far 
the social status of woman will be improved. It is 
not at all likely that her actual position will be im- 
mediately advanced in any great degree. It is prob- 
able that custom will continue, for a while at least, 
to wield a mightier influence than the Code; and 
that, as Mr. Gubbins remarks, "the present transi- 
tional condition of Japanese society may favor a rule 
being honored more in the breach than in the ob- 
servance." But it will probably not be long before 
here and there certain women will claim the rights 
accorded by law ^ and will find a corresponding im- 

1 " A Japanese judge has ruled in a certain case that the wife is 
not obliged ' to obey the unreasonable demands of her husband.* 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 183 

provement in their social condition; and thus the 
general position of the Japanese woman will grad- 
ually be advanced. 

And, as a matter of fact, the status of woman in 
Japan is improving in practice no less than in theory, 
especially in the new openings for work that render 
her more or less independent of male support. For 
instance, although the work of weaving, formerly 
carried on by women in the homes, is now largely 
transferred to factories, with modern machinery, 
there is an increasing demand for female hands. 
This is also true in cotton mills, match factories, 
tobacco shops, and many other such places of work. 
Telephone exchanges, post-offices, railway ticket 
offices, printing offices, also find girls and women 
deft and skilful. In hospitals and schools, too, the 
Japanese young woman is finding her sphere. She 
is likewise showing her skill and taste in both artistic 
and literary employments. But in Japan, as else- 
where, this drift into industrial and other occupations 
is producing a scarcity of servants for housework. 

Just as Kaibara's " Onna Daigaku " (Great Learn- 
ing for Women) was the standard for female edu- 
cation under the old regime, so New Japan most 

In this particular instance the man of the house had told the wife 
to perform some disagreeable manual labor for him ; she refused, 
and he promptly divorced her. The wife appealed, and her plea 
was upheld by the court. A very important precedent has been 
established, and this decision may lead to a rerolution in Japanese 
domestic life, in which, thanks to the courage of one woman and 
the enlightening effect of American ideals, the Japanese wife need 
no longer be her husband's slave." — Congregational Work. 



184 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

appropriately has a " Shin [New] Onna-Daigaku, " by- 
Mr. Fukuzawa, the famous educator and writer. 
The following summary thereof is from the " Japan 
Mail": — 

"The ' Sekai-no-Nihon ' reviews at some length Mr. 
Fukuzawa's series of articles entitled ' Shin Onna-Dai- 
gaku,' which have now appeared in book form. We 
give in a brief form the gist of the reviewer's remarks. 
Mr. Fukuzawa's object in writing so much on the sub- 
ject of women's position in modern times is to endeavor 
to create a new standard for women. Hitherto the 
teaching of Kaibara Ekiken's ' Onna Daigaku ' has 
been accepted in all quarters. According to it woman 
occupies a subordinate position, and must on no account 
assert her independence or claim equality with man. 
While showing the untenableness of all such theories, 
Mr. Fukuzawa does not rush to an opposite extreme. 
He defines woman's position in a remarkably common- 
sense way. He would not have women attempt to 
imitate men. They have their own spheres and should 
keep to them. When discussing the education of girls 
he insists on the necessity of making a special point of 
giving them a thorough drilling in household duties. 
They should have a knowledge of cooking ; they should 
be taught how to make the most of money, how to man- 
age servants, &c. Next to these things he attaches great 
importance to their being instructed in the laws of 
health. Among other subjects botany is to be recom- 
mended as specially suited to the female mind. He 
further argues that women should be taught Economy 
and Law. He thinks that a knowledge of these subjects 
will tend to develop their geueral intelligence, and save 
them from becoming the creatures of emotion. In olden 
times a woman carried a dagger in her girdle to be used 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 185 

as a last resource. In modern times a thoroughly en- 
lightened mind will be her best protection against the 
dangers to which she is exposed. With the tendency to 
conceit which is said to be engendered by the kind of 
education recommended, Mr. Fukuzawa deals in his 
treatise, arguing that this tendency can be rendered 
harmless by instruction in the kind of demeanor that 
best becomes a woman. . . . Marriage according to the 
old methods Mr. Fukuzawa condemns, and the practice 
of having the father-in-law or mother-in-law living with 
the married couple should, he thinks, be discontinued. 
Marriage should be regarded in a serious light, and the 
duties and responsibilities it involves should be duly 
considered. Mothers should take pleasure in instruct- 
ing their children, and should know enough to gain their 
respect. The whole system recommended is based on 
Western life and thought. This new Gospel for woman 
preached by a man who has spent his whole life in advo- 
cating reform, as one of his last messages to the nation, 
is, says the ' Sekai-no-Nihon,' very striking and likely 
to effect great good." ^ 

Within the past decade or so the educational ad- 
vantages for Japanese girls have very largely in- 
creased ; and the number of girls and young women 
availing themselves of these advantages has grown 
encouragingly. There has been a marked increase 
in the number of female pupils in public and private, 
including mission, schools of all grades ; and there 
have been new institutions organized especially for 

1 It is interesting to note that after a marriage ceremony at one 
of the shrines at Mkko, the bridegroom and the bride were pre- 
sented with a copy of Mr. Fukuzawa's work. 



186 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

young women, concerning two of which it is neces- 
sary to speak more particularly. 

One is a kind of English normal school in charge 
of Miss Um^ Tsuda, herself a type of the best kind 
of "new woman" in Japan. She was the youngest 
of the first group of Japanese girls sent over to the 
United States in 1871 to be educated; and ever since 
her return to Japan she has been trying to elevate 
the condition of her sisters. Her school is intended 
primarily to train young women to be efficient 
teachers, particularly of English. Another impor- 
tant institution is the University for Women, opened 
in 1901 in Tokyo, the first of its kind started in 
the first year of the new century, as a harbinger 
that the Twentieth Century in Japan will be largely 
the women's century.^ 

What the new woman in Japan is able to accom- 
plish in business lines is well illustrated in the fol- 
lowing paragraphs : ^ — 

"Mrs. Asa Hirooka, of Osaka, is well known in business 
circles as the actual guiding spirit and organizer of the 
famous banking firm of Kajima. A daughter of the 
Mitsui family, she was married at the age of 17 to Mr. 
Shingoro Hirooka of Osaka a few years previous to the 
restoration. The Hirooka family was one of those cele- 
brated banking agents of the feudal barons who flour- 
ished at Osaka during the Tokugawa regime, and, like 
many of the rest, had its affairs thrown into disorder 
and was itself reduced to a precarious condition by the 
political convulsion of three decades ago. The Kajimaya, 
1 See Appendix. * Chicago Daily Eecord. 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 187 

under whicli style the Hirooka family conducted its busi- 
ness, would certainly have shared the same melancholy 
fate that overtook so many of its compeers had it not been 
for the resolute character and business capacity of Mrs. 
Asa, who assumed the sole direction of affairs, introducing 
sweeping changes in the organization of the firm, and in 
a remarkably short space of time succeeded in starting it 
on a career of fresh and increasing prosperity. 

" About twenty years ago Moji, the present flourishing 
centre of the coal business, had scarcely come into exist- 
ence ; in other words, few people had yet commenced to 
turn their attention to the development of coal-mining. 
In this venture she encountered innumerable difficulties. 
In the first place, she had to overcome the determined 
opposition of the other members of the family. Their 
position was, in fact, so strong and persistent that she 
had to engage in the undertaking entirely on her own 
account and responsibility. She had thus to start afresh 
with little capital, except her own personal credit, and 
many were the hardships and disadvantages against 
which she had to struggle. But there is always a way 
where there is a will, and our fair but indomitable miner 
was ultimately rewarded with signal success, and suc- 
ceeded in adding largely to the capital of the firm and 
in establishing her reputation as a resourceful organizer 
and a unique business woman. 

" All the collieries in her possession have one after 
another been disposed of at profitable prices, and just at 
present she is devoting her whole attention to the expan- 
sion of the banking business of the firm. An eminently 
successful financier and business organizer, she is by no 
means indifferent to interests of a higher sort. Her- 
self well educated, she takes a keen interest in educa- 
tional matters, especially those relating to her own sex, 
being one of the principal supporters of Mr. Naruse's 



188 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

scheme for a university for girls. By way of giving 
practical encouragement to the movement in favor of 
female education, she already employs some educated 
girls as clerks at her banks, and intends to place a new 
department which is about to be opened at those banks 
almost exclusively in the hands of female clerks." 

This chapter would, of course, be incomplete 
without at least a few words about the noble first 
lady of the land. She was brought up in the old- 
fashioned way, but she is in hearty sympathy with 
the ideals of New Japan. As she has no children 
of her own, she has adopted the entire nation and 
completely won their love ; she is, indeed, the mother 
of millions. She is especially interested in educa- 
tional and benevolent institutions ; she is the active 
patron of the Peeresses' School, the University for 
Women, 1 the Red Cross Society, and other philan- 
thropic enterprises. In times of calamity her purse 
is always opened for a liberal contribution to the 
suffering. 2 

Another lady of special interest is Princess Sada, 
the young wife of the Crown Prince. She was born 
in 1884, and was educated in the Peeresses' School 
until her betrothal, when she was placed under pri- 
vate tutors. She was married on May 10, 1900, 

1 " H. M. the Empress gave a donation of 2,000 !yew to the Women's 
University established by Mr. Jinzo Naruse. Prince Iwakura and 
Marquis Hachisuka will call at the Imperial Palace in a day or 
two in order to express the gratitude of the university for this 
munificent donation." — Japan Times. 

2 Her birthday on May 28 is annually observed by Christian 
women in special services. 



THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN 189 

and is the mother of two healthy sons. The young 
couple are said to live a happy and congenial life. 

In conclusion, we make one more quotation, from 
Miss Bacon's "Japanese Girls and Women," as 
follows ; — 

"The woman question in Japan is at the present 
moment a matter of much consideration. There seems 
to be an uneasy feeling in the minds of even the more 
conservative men that some change in the status of 
women is inevitable, if the nation wishes to keep the 
pace it has set for itself. The Japanese women of the 
past and of the present are exactly suited to the posi- 
tion accorded them in society, and any attempt to alter 
them without changing their status only results in 
making square pegs for round holes. If the pegs here- 
after are to be cut square, the holes must be enlarged 
and squared to fit them. The Japanese woman stands 
in no need of alteration unless her place in life is 
somehow enlarged, nor, on the other hand, can she fill 
a larger place without additional training. The men 
of new Japan, to whom the opinions and customs of 
the western world are becoming daily more familiar, 
while they shrink aghast, in many cases, at the thought 
that their women may ever become like the forward, 
self-assertive, half-masculine women of the West, show 
a growing tendency to dissatisfaction with the small- 
ness and narrowness of the lives of their wives and 
daughters — a growing belief that better-educated women 
would make better homes, and that the ideal home of 
Europe and America is the product of a more advanced 
civilization than that of Japan. Eeluctantly in many 
cases, but still almost universally,- it is admitted that 
in the interest of the homes, and for the sake of future 
generations, something must be done to carry the women 



190 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

forward into a position more in harmony with what the 
nation is reaching for in other directions. This desire 
shows itself in individual efforts to improve by more ad- 
vanced education daughters of exceptional promise, and 
in general efforts for the improvement of the condition 
of women." 

Miss Bacon, in her book, traces very clearly the 
progress that has been made in the condition of 
woman, and shows how "better laws, broader edu- 
cation for the women, [and] a change in public 
opinion " are still necessary. And she affirms that 
" we can feel pretty sure that, when the people have 
become used to these [recent] changes [of the new 
Civil Code], other and more binding laws will be 
enacted, for the drift of enlightened public opinion 
seems to be in favor of securing better and more 
firmly established homes." 

The following is also worthy of quotation : " It is 
not possible to understand the actual progress made 
in Japan in improving the condition of women, with- 
out some consideration of the effect that Christian 
thought and Christian lives have had on the thought 
and lives of the modern Japanese." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

"The Real Japan," chap. viii. ; "Out of the Far East" 
(Hearn), pp. 85-12.5; "The Yankees of the East," chaps, 
ix., six. ; " An American Missionary in Japan " (Gordon), 
chap. XV. ; " Japan and her People," vol. 1. pp. 178-191 ; " A 
Japanese Interior " (Miss Bacon) ; and, last and best, Miss 
Bacon's "Japanese Girls and Women," revised edition, illus- 
trated. 



CHAPTER XIV 
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 

Outline of Topics : Japanese syllabary ; i-ro-ha arrangement ; 
arrangement of fifty-sounds ; modern inventions. — Chinese ideo- 
graphs ; Kata-kana ; Hira-gana ; Kana-majiri and Kana-tsuki ; yari- 
ety in pronunciation. — Japanese elocution. — Japanese syntax ; 
logic in linguistics ; a sample sentence ; kind of language ; topsy- 
turvy practices. — Ancient literature ; poetry ; naga-uta and tanka ; 
hokku ; a poem a picture. — Characteristics of Japanese poetry. — 
Modern literature : newspapers ; press laws ; English journals ; 
Japanese journals; magazines and periodicals; books; what the 
Japanese read ; their literary taste ; foreign books ; linguistic re- 
forms, theory and practice. — Bibliography. 

THE Japanese language "belongs, philologi- 
cally, to the Altaic family, and is of the 
agglutinative type. Practically, it is musi- 
cal and easy to pronounce, but, on account of its 
long and involved sentences, difficult to learn. Its 
alphabet is not phonetic, but syllabic, and very simple 
and regular. It comprises 73 characters, of which 
5 are duplicates of the same sounds, so that there 
are really only 68 distinct sounds. As many of the 
sounds, moreover, are only slight modifications of 
other sounds, they are represented by the same char- 
acters, with certain diacritical signs attached (as in 
the case of ha^ ba, and pa). There are, consequently, 
in common use only 48 distinct characters, which are 



192 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

arranged in such an order as to form a stanza of 
poetry^ as follows: — 

Iro wa nioedo 

Chirinuru wo — 
Waga yo tare zo 

Tsune naran ? 
Ui no oku-yama 

Kyo koete, 
Asaki yume miji, 

Ei mo sezu. 

Which means, being interpreted by Professor B. H. 
Chamberlain : — 

"Though gay in hue, [the blossoms] flutter down, 
Alas ! Who then, in this world of ours, may continue 
forever? Crossing to-day the uttermost limits of phe- 
nomenal existence, I shall see no more fleeting dreams, 
neither be any longer intoxicated." In other words, 
"all is transitory in this fleeting world. Let us escape 
from its illusions and vanities." 

Another arrangement, based on the five vowels and 
their combination with certain consonants, gives fifty 
sounds, of which, however, two or three are really 
duplicates. This table of fifty sounds (jgoju-on) is as 
follows : — 



a 


ka 


sa 


ta 


na 


ha 


ma 


ya 


ra 


wa 


i 


ki 


shi 


chi 


ni 


hi 


mi 


{yy 


ri 


(w)i 


u 


ku 


su 


tsu 


nu 


fu 


mu 


j^ 


ru 


(w)u 


e 


ke 


se 


te 


ne 


he 


me 


{yy 


re 


(w)e 


o 


ko 


so 


to 


no 


ho 


mo 


yo 


ro 


wo 



1 Arranged by the famous Buddhist priest, K6b5 Daishi. 

2 Read from top to bottom and from left to right. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 193 

Those in italics are duplicates ; and (10)1 and (w)e, 
though written with different characters from i and e, 
have practically the same pronunciation. 

It will be seen that both of these arrangements are 
more or less artificial; at least, they appear to be 
mnemonic contrivances, and are certainly very con- 
venient, because they are flexible. For instance, the 
demands of modern times and European languages 
for a V sound has led the Japanese to represent it by 
the simple device of attaching the common dia- 
critical mark to the w series. By a similar device 
they might utilize the r series for I and the s series 
for th! 

The Japanese characters, not difficult or complex 
in formation, are modifications and simplifications of 
Chinese ideographs. There had been in Japan no 
written language until after the introduction of 
Chinese civilization in the sixth century A. d., when 
Chinese words and characters were absorbed by the 
wholesale. Later, two systems of contracting the 
complex and cumbersome Chinese ideographs were 
invented, and are still used to some extent, indeed 
almost entirely by the uneducated class. 

The oldest and simplest modification is called 
Kata-hana (side -letters), and consisted merely in 
taking part of a Chinese ideograph. But, as these 
characters were separate, and did not easily run to- 
gether, they have not been used much, "except in 
dictionaries, books intended for the learned, or to 
spell foreign names." 

13 



194 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The next modification was a contraction of Chinese 
characters into a running, or grass, hand, and is 
therefore called Hira-gana (plain-letters). These 
are all that the ignorant, especially the women, can 
read. 

But a Japanese who aspires to the smallest degree 
of education must be familiar with many Chinese 
characters; and a pupil is, in fact, instructed in that 
language and literature from the primary school up 
through the university. Some books are written en- 
tirely in Chinese, and, of course, can be read only by 
the best educated. But the commonest method for 
newspapers and books which are not intended for a 
limited circulation among the erudite only, is the use 
of a mixture of Chinese and Japanese characters, of 
which the root forms are Chinese, and the connec- 
tives, agglutinative particles, and grammatical end- 
ings are Japanese; this is called Kana-majiri. For 
even more general circulation the Chinese characters 
will be explained by Japanese characters at the side ; 
this is called Kana-tsuki. 

This practice of mixing the characters of the two 
languages leads to some variety in pronunciation. 
That is to say, a word written with Chinese ideo- 
graphs may be read with the Japonicized Chinese 
pronunciation or with that of the pure Japanese 
word of which it is the equivalent. For instance, 
the Chinese characters which make up the word 
meaning "Japan" are usually pronounced Nippon^ 
or Nihon^ by the Japanese, but may also be read, in 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 195 

pure Japanese, as Hi-no-moto. It is practically the 
same as when we are allowed to read "etc." either 
as "e^ cetera " or as " and-so-forth " (or "t. e.," either 
as '■Hd est " or as "that is "). 

In connection with this topic of reading, we 
may as well touch on the elocutionary element in 
reading by Japanese. Their style of reading, as 
amusing to us as ours is to them, may be called 
"sing-song": they rise and fall by monotones, and, 
going very rapidly without attention to the beginning 
or the end of a sentence, catch breath now and then 
by a peculiar sucking sound. They seem to make no 
attempt to read "with expression," as we call it; and, 
when they come to study English, are a great trial 
for a while to the foreign teacher ! 

The peculiarities of Japanese syntax have been so 
attractively discussed by Mr. Percival Lowell, ^ that 
any other writer on that subject must at the outset 
acknowledge his indebtedness to that author. It will 
be unnecessary in this chapter to go into details ; it 
will be sufficient to mention several of the points in 
which Japanese and English syntax are different. 
For instance, a Japanese noun knows no distinction 
(in form) of gender and number; a Japanese adjec- 
tive or adverb has no terminational comparison; a 
Japanese verb is proof to the distinctions of number 
and person. In the Japanese language the connec- 
tives which correspond to our prepositions are placed 
after their nouns; the verbs always come last; our 
1 See " The Soul of the Tar East," pp. 78-109. 



196 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

personal and possessive pronouns are supplanted by 
honorific expressions; and the definite article, the 
relative pronoun, and the pure temporal conjunc- 
tion are lacking. To illustrate the first point, it is 
enough to say that a teacher once asked a young 
Japanese pupil, "Have you any brothers?" and 
received this answer: "There are four men; but 
they are all women." In the question, the generic 
term hyodai^ which may be applied to both sexes, 
although strictly it should be limited to the male 
sex, was employed; in the reply, the generic term 
for " man " was used in the first clause, and the 
proper specification was added in the second clause. 
What he literally replied was this : " There are [= I 
have] four [such] persons; but they are all women." 
And, in Japanese, " man, " whether singular, dual, or 
plural, whether single or married, may be simply 
hito ; and yet the idea of "men" may also be ex- 
pressed by doubling the word into hito-bito; while 
that of " women " is expressed by suffixing domo or 
tachi to onna and making onna-tachi, onna-dom.o. 

With reference to language in general, a most 
patriotic Japanese once proved, to his own satis- 
faction, "the wickedness of foreign nations, not 
only in act but in speech," and illustrated by 
the fact that the Europeans, for instance, put the 
verb before the noun, and said, "see the moon." 
But the Japanese said "moon see," because, "if 
the moon was not there first, you could not see it 
afterwards " ! 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 197 

Some of the peculiarities of Japanese sentences are 
illustrated in the following : " The man whom I met 
yesterday went to Tokyo by the nine o'clock train 
this morning," if translated literally from Japan- 
ese, would read: "My yesterday-on met man-as- 
for, this morning's ninth-hour's train-by Tokyo-to 
went." 

In short, the Japanese language is an involved, 
complicated, impersonal, neutral, obscure, but withal 
a pretty, musical, logical, and polite tongue. Cham- 
berlain says : *' Japanese is probably — all things con- 
sidered — the most difficult language on the face of 
the earth." 

A Japanese book begins where an English book 
ends ; it is read from top to bottom in lines running 
from right to left; and the "foot-notes" are at 
the top of the page, while the reader's mark is 
inserted at the bottom. Books are always arranged 
on a shelf or elsewhere, with the first volume at the 
right hand, or in horizontal piles. The Japanese 
call our style of writing "crab-writing," because it 
"goes backward" and across the page like a craw- 
fish; and the individual just quoted, claimed to be 
able to judge of the hearts of foreigners by their 
writing, "which was crooked"! Inversion appears 
again in such expressions as "east-north," "west- 
south," instead of "northeast," "southwest." The 
address of a letter runs as follows : " America, United 
States, Illinois State, Chicago City, Hyde Park Dis- 
trict, Washington Avenue, 0000 No., Smith, John, 



198 A HANDBOOK OP MODERN JAPAN 

Mr." In dates the order of year, month, day, is fol- 
lowed. The word for roof (yane) means literally 
"house-root," because a Japanese house is constructed 
to fit the roof, which is made first. But, as words are 
only the expression of thought, this contrariety must 
be traced back to the thoughts and ideas of Japanese, 
who, in so many other things, seem to us as " topsy- 
turvy " as we seem to them. 

Japanese literature of the old regime was written 
partly in classical Chinese, partly in pure Japanese, 
and comprised mostly mythology, history, law, poetry, 
romance, drama, and Buddhist and Confucian phi- 
losophy. As we cannot go into details on this sub- 
ject, so tempting, we shall confine ourselves to a few 
comments on Japanese poetry, which is more original 
and less Chinese than prose. The Japanese are very 
much addicted to writing poetry; like Silas Wegg, 
they drop off into poetry on every possible occasion. 
They are, in one sense, "born" poets, and, in an- 
other sense, made poets: poeta Japonicus et nascitur 
et fit, — " The Japanese poet is both born and 
made." There are certain rigid forms, and only a 
few, for verse; and all fairly educated Japanese 
know those forms. In school, moreover, they are 
carefully taught the theory and the practice of 
versification. 

Occasionally a Japanese poem will be rather long, 
and is then called naga-uta Oong poem) ; but usually 
it is only a "tiny ode" of 31 syllables, arranged in 5 
lines of respectively 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables. The 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 199 

following is a specimen of such an wto, or tanka, from 
the famous "Hundred Poems ": — 

Kokoro-ate ni " If it were my wish 

Orobaya oran White chrysanthemum to cull : — 

Hatsu-shimo no Puzzled by the frost 

Oki-madowaseru Of the early autumn time, 
Shiragiku no hana. Iperchance might pluck the flower."^ 

There is also an abbreviated form called hokku^ 
which contains only the 17 syllables of the first 3 
lines of the tanka. The following is an example : — 

Kare-eda ni 
U no tomari keri 
Aki no kure. 
" On an autumn evening a crow perches on a withered 
branch." 

The quaintness and simplicity of Japanese thought 
and expression appear very clearly in their poetry. 
It has been truly said that a Japanese poem is a 
picture or even only the outline of a picture to be 
filled in by the imagination. It may be merely an 
exclamation, without any logical assertion, like the 
following, written a thousand years ago: — 

Shira-kumo ni " The moon on an autumn 

Hane uchi-kawashi night, making visible the 

Tobu kari no very number of wild geese 

Kazu sae miyuru flying past with wings inter- 

Aki no yo no tsuki. crossed in white clouds." ^ 

^ Translation by Prof. Clay MacCauley, Transactions Asiatic 
Society of Japan, vol. xxvii. 

2 From Chamberlain's " Things Japanese." 



200 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Japanese poetry has no rhyme, no parallelism, no 
alliteration, no accent; it is almost all lyrical, and 
abounds in acrostics, anagrams, and palindromes. 
Its chief subjects are taken from nature, and a poem 
may be evoked by the simplest thing. Although 
Japanese poetry is difficult to understand, it is in- 
teresting to study. 

Japanese literature of the new regime is too varied 
to enumerate, as it covers, in both original and trans- 
lated work, about all the fields of modern thought, 
as well as the fields of the old regime, just mentioned. 

The development of newspapers is, perhaps, one of 
the most interesting phases of the progress of New 
Japan. The year 1902 was the thirtieth anniver- 
sary of the establishment of Japanese journalism. 
Before that time small sheets, each like a modern 
"extra," were issued to give account of a murder or 
an important event, and were hawked about by street- 
criers. But the "Nisshin Shinjishi," started in 1872 
by an Englishman named Black, was the first attempt 
at a real newspaper.^ Now there are probably more 
than 1,000 papers, magazines, etc., published in the 
empire. The newspapers are issued daily, and cost 
from 25 to 50 sen per month. Most of the metro- 
politan papers indulge in wood-cuts, even cartoons. 

At first the press laws were rigorous and the 

1 It is, however, only fair to state that Joseph Heco, who was 
probably the first naturalized Japanese citizen of the United States, 
claims the same honor for his " Kaigai Shimbun," published in 1864 
to give a summary of foreign news. See his " Narrative of a Jap- 
anese," vol. ii. pp. 53, 59. 




EDUCATORS AND SCIENTISTS OF JAPAN 

BAEON ISHIGURO, VISCOUNT MORI, MR. FUKUZAWA, 

DE. KITASATO 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 201 

official censors zealous; so that a Japanese editor 
must weigh carefully his utterances, and even then 
was likely, in a time of great political excitement, to 
bring upon his paper the ban of either temporary or 
total suspension. Some of the papers tried to cir- 
cumvent the laws by having an extra edition issued 
under a different name, so that when one was sus- 
pended the other might continue; and sometimes a 
paper had nominal editors, or dummies, to suffer the 
punishment of imprisonment, while the real editors, 
or criminals, remained at their desks! It might be 
added, in this connection, that a public speaker also 
was liable to interruption by the police if he was 
considered by them to be uttering sentiments subver- 
sive of peace and order. Perfect freedom of speech 
and liberty of the press do not now, and cannot yet, ex- 
ist in Japan ; but the restrictions have been gradually 
withdrawn, and are now comparatively small. 

Newspapers in foreign languages, most of them in 
English, are issued in Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, 
and Tokyo. Of all these, the "Japan Mail," of 
Yokohama, is facile princeps^ for it does not deal 
in captious criticisms of the mistakes and sins of 
the Japanese, but is keenly sympathetic with their 
desire for improvement and progress in all lines. 
The "Japan Times," of Tokyo, is owned, managed, 
and edited by Japanese, and is a valuable paper. 
Deserving also of mention are the "Japan Daily 
Advertiser," of Yokohama, and the "Herald" and 
the " Chronicle " of Kobe. 



202 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

It is rather a difficult task to select from the ver- 
nacular newspapers the few most worthy of mention ; 
but two from Osaka and six from Tokyo will suffice. 
The " Osaka Asahi Shimbun " is said to have the 
largest circulation in the whole country; and the 
" Osaka Mainichi Shimbun " is well known. In Tokyo 
the most prominent journals are the " Jiji Shimpo, " 
the "Nichi Nichi Shimbun," the "Kokumin Shim- 
bun," the "Mainichi Shimbun," and the "Hochi 
Shimbun." Another Tokyo paper of very large 
circulation is the "Yorozu Choho." Almost all 
the newspapers of Japan are morning papers; but, 
as they generally go to press early in the evening 
of the preceding day, the " news " is not the latest. 
But very important events will always be published 
in "extras " at any hour.^ 

There are also magazines galore of every kind. 
Some of them prove rather short-lived ; but most of 
them find a constituency, as each one seems to have 
its own field. Probably the largest and most suc- 
cessful magazine is named " Taiyo " (Sun), which 
issues monthly about 250 pages of Japanese matter, 
with 24 pages of English matter, and is finely il- 
lustrated. Its leading articles by well-known writers 
cover a great variety of topics. The "Kokumin- 
no-Tomo " (Nation's Friend) is another excellent 
magazine, famous for the admirable style of its 
contributions. The "Rikugo Zasshi " (Cosmos) is 
philosophical and religious. There are a great 
1 See also Norman's " Real Japan," chap. ii. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 203 

many Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian weekly and 
monthly periodicals, which are published primarily 
for the edification of the believers. 

" Of making many books there is no end " in Japan. 
Composition is apparently such an easy task, and 
publishing is so cheap, that every person inspired 
with an idea is tempted to rush into print. And 
those who are not so fortunate as to be rich in " ori- 
ginal " ideas, have an inexhaustible field in the trans- 
lation of books from English and other Occidental 
languages; indeed, a fair living may be made in 
that way. 

Japanese taste in reading is illustrated by a table 
accompanying a recent official report from the Impe- 
rial Library at Tokyo. During a period of 24 days 
covered by the report, the readers numbered 7,770, 
and the books called for were classified as follows : — 

Japanese and European 
Chinese works. works. 

Theology and religion 635 14 

Philosophy and education 2,368 145 

Literature and languages 8,038 998 

History, biography, geography, travel . . 9,768 460 

Law, politics, sociology, economy, statistics 6,577 304 

Mathematics, natural philosophy, medicine . 9,506 388 

Engineering, military arts, industries . . . 4,943 205 

Miscellaneous books 4,840 530 

The table will interest American readers as show- 
ing how large is the number of European works 
included. It may be added that the Japanese are 
decidedly a reading people. Even the "jinrikisha 
man," waiting on the street-corner for a customer, 



204 A HANDBOOK Or MODERN JAPAN 

is generally to be seen reading a newspaper, maga- 
zine, or book. 

The leading firm of booksellers in Japan recently- 
asked a large number of eminent Japanese men of 
letters, of science, of business, etc., to name their 
favorite European or American books. The 73 an- 
swers received have been published in a Japan- 
ese periodical, and are interesting as displaying 
the literary tastes of Japanese readers of foreign 
literature. 

The most popular work is Darwin's "Origin of 
Species," which received 26 votes; next come 
Goethe's "Faust," the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," 
and Hugo's "Les Miserables," in the order named. 
Among English men of letters, Byron and Tennyson 
are the most popular. The names of Stevenson, 
Hardy, Meredith, "Mark Twain," and other recent 
writers are rarely met with, while that of Kipling 
occurs not even once. Among continental writers, 
Tolstoi, Schopenhauer, Heine, and Zola are fre- 
quently mentioned; and Nietsche's " Zarathustra " 
is characterized more than once as the greatest work 
in the last decade of the nineteenth century, i 

Some interesting information with reference to 
the demand for foreign works in Japan has been made 
public in the " Japan Times " by a Japanese importer 
of foreign books, and several items therefrom are of 
interest. 

Works relating to architecture and building, chem- 

1 Reprinted, by permission, from " The Dial," Chicago. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 205 

istry, electricity and magnetism, engineering and me- 
chanics, manufactures and industrial arts, metallurgy 
and mining, together with dictionaries and encyclo- 
paedias, enjoy the largest demand. In chemistry, 
Remsen is one of the popular authors ; in metallurgy, 
Phillips's work heads the list; in electricity and 
magnetism, Thomson's works find the largest num- 
ber of purchasers ; and there is an active demand for 
Taggart's "Cotton Spinning." The favorite diction- 
ary is "Nuttall's Standard Dictionary," of which the 
firm above named has already sold between 200,000 
and 300,000 copies! Next comes "Webster's Con- 
densed Dictionary," and even "Webster's Un- 
abridged " sells at the rate of from 50 to 60 copies 
per month. The "Students' Standard Dictionary " 
also sells well. 

Works on scientific subjects, especially new publi- 
cations, are in great demand, and show the eagerness 
of Japanese students to become acquainted with the 
results of the latest investigations. In astronomy, 
Newcomb and Holden's popular treatise comes first. 
In pedagogics, Herbart is the most popular author at 
present. In history, Fisher's " Universal History " 
heads the list; in general, works on modern history 
are in greater demand than those of earlier periods. 
The greater demand for language books, among which 
the Otto series stands first, may be due to the near 
approach of the date of mixed residence. Mathe- 
matical books are only in fair request. 

In medicine, German books have practically driven 



206 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

from the field works in other languages. In politics 
and diplomacy, however, French works are preferred; 
Walker's " Political Economy," Jevons's "Money," 
and Bastiat's " Science of Finance " have a large 
sale. In law, German works are beginning to pre- 
dominate. Taine's "English Literature " heads the 
list in works of that class, and is used as a text-book 
or work of reference in several higher institutions of 
learning. Of books on Japan, Griffis's " Mikado's 
Empire " maintains its ground as the favorite. Works 
on antiquities and ethnology, elocution and oratory, 
theology and religion, are said to be practically de- 
void of demand; but philosophical works find good 
sale, with Herbert Spencer in the van. 

Fifty years ago a foreign book had to be smuggled 
into Japan and studied secretly ; and many an earnest 
scholar paid with his life the penalty for desiring a 
broad education through books. Fifty years ago, 
Dutch books were about the only ones, except 
Chinese, that got into the empire even by smug- 
gling. Now information is eagerly sought from all 
quarters of the globe ; and books in many languages 
are readable by Japanese.^ 

It is generally supposed that languages, like poets, 
are "born, not made," and that the changes in a 
language come, not artificiallj', but naturally. Inter- 
esting, therefore, is the spectacle of an attempt to 
effect a tremendous reform in a language, many cen- 
turies old, by legislative enactment. The nation 

1 Reprinted, by permission, from " The Dial," Chicago. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 207 

which is making this apparently foolish and useless 
attempt is Japan, which has already often startled 
the world by its marvellous reforms. And if its 
wonderful success in legislative reforms in other lines 
are any criterion in this case, it will succeed in ef- 
fecting much-needed reform in its language. At the 
sixteenth session of the Imperial Diet, a sum of money 
was appropriated for a " linguistic commission. " This 
was appointed in the spring of this year, has held 
several meetings, and has already arrived at some 
decisions. It has been decided, for instance, that " a 
phonographic script " is to be employed; but the much 
discussed question, whether it shall be the common 
Japanese hana (syllabic characters) or Roman letters, 
is still on the docket. It is also proposed to reduce 
the number of Chinese ideographs in common use. 
Moreover, the differences between the written and the 
spoken language are to be abolished ; and the formal 
epistolary style is to be reformed. It has also been 
decided that the whole system of Japanese etymology 
must be "carefully revised." Even the "problem of 
local dialects" is to be attacked, and "a standard 
dialect fixed." It is noticeable that the commission 
is not afflicted with trepidity, but is proceeding with 
the utmost courage to attack the most difficult prob- 
lems. It is composed of some of the most practical 
as well as the most scholarly men of the empire, and 
its work will be watched with the deepest interest, 
both at home and abroad. And the great changes 
already effected in the Japanese language since the 



208 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

country was opened are some warrant for believing 
that this commission will achieve a measure of 
success.^ 

And yet we understand that legislative enactment 
alone cannot make these reforms perfectly effective ; 
but we are gratified that intelligent public opinion 
will support these reforms, not only theoretically, but 
also practically. For the full fruition of such reforms 
must be attained through the schools and the public 
press ; and the latter has already begun to work along 
these very lines. It is, indeed, well for Japan that 
her leaders realize the necessity of breaking loose from 
her thraldom to Chinese letters, literature, thought, 
and ideals. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Rein's "Japan"; "Advance Japan" (Morris), chap. xi. ; 
Knapp's "Feudal and Modern Japaii," vol. ii. chaps, i.-iii. ; 
and "Japan in History, Folk-lore and Art" (Griffis), pp. 76-91, 
104-107. For special study of the language, Imbrie's " English- 
Japanese Etymology," Chamberlain's " Hand-book of Colloquial 
Japanese" and" Moji no Shirube"^; Aston's "Grammar of 
the Japanese Written Language"^'; and Brinkley's Dictionary. 
On the literature, Aston's "History of Japanese Literature," 
entire; see also Chamberlain's "Japanese Epigrams" in 
Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxx. part ii. 

1 Eeprinted, by permission, from " The Dial," Chicago. 

2 Or "Practical Introduction to the Study of Japanese Writing. " 
2 Ness's Lange's "Text-book of Colloquial Japanese" (1903) is 

very valuable. 



CHAPTER XV 
EDUCATION 

OuTLiKE OF Topics : Old-style education ; study of Dutch ; 
modern education ; branches of curricula ; three kinds of schools ; 
school age ; the Imperial Eescript ; kindergartens ; elementary 
schools ; middle schools ; higher schools ; universities ; normal 
schools ; agricultural schools ; technical schools ; commercial 
schools ; foreign language schools ; art and music ; eleemosy- 
nary institutions ; female education ; professional schools ; private 
schools ; mission schools ; foreign instructors and study abroad ; 
teachers' associations; libraries; scientific study; defects of Jap- 
anese education. — Bibliography. 

THE old-style education was at first Buddhist, 
afterwards Confucian, in method and mat- 
ter. It comprised chiefly instruction in the 
Japanese and the Chinese languages, literature, and 
history, and was mostly confined to the samurai 
(knights), or military class. Female education con- 
sisted mainly of reading and writing Japanese, the 
elaborate rules of etiquette, and "polite accomplish- 
ments " in music and art. All instruction was given 
pretty much by the Chinese system of lectures; and 
a " memoriter " method of learning hampered original 
investigation. Especially in the domain of Japanese 
history, so called, on which rested the political in- 
stitutions, skepticism was practically . synonymous 
with treason. 

14 



210 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

According to a Japanese authority, " the first book 
published [in Japan] on foreign subjects " was by the 
famous scholar Aral Hakuseki [1657-1725] under the 
title "Seiyo Kibun " (Notes of the Western Ocean). 
Early in the eighteenth century a few scholars were 
officially commissioned to study Dutch; and many 
others secretly engaged in the same pursuit. It was 
almost entirely through the Dutch that, during the 
period of seclusion, the Japanese obtained their 
knowledge of Western countries and peoples, of 
history and science, especially of medical science. 
Several Dutch scholars also studied Japan and the 
Japanese. 

But since the opening of Japan new ideas have 
gradually come to prevail; and especially since the 
Restoration of 1868, education, like all other insti- 
tutions of Japan, has had the methodical and progres- 
sive spirit of Western civilization infused into it. 
Foreigners, especially Americans, were called in to 
remodel the whole system and to instruct in the new 
education. Thus in the various provinces the system 
of education was graded and made harmonious for 
the entire empire. Kindergartens have been estab- 
lished in many localities, and are especially valuable, 
because most mothers are incompetent to give satis- 
factory home instruction. Six is the age at which a 
child may enter the " elementary school " for a course 
of eight years ; next comes the " middle school " for 
five years; then the "higher school " for two or three 
years, and, finally, the Imperial Universities at Tokyo 



EDUCATION 211 

and Kyoto, each with its various colleges. There are 
also normal schools, "common" and "higher," for 
the training of teachers, and a great many technical 
and professional schools, public and private. Mis- 
sionary schools of all grades are doing an excellent 
work, and in many particulars supplying a great need. 
Co-education prevails only in the elementary schools; 
and the higher education of woman has been sadly 
neglected, but better provision for it is gradually being 
made. The first year of the new century was marked 
by the establishment at Tokyo of the first University 
for Women. 1 The Crown Prince Haru attended the 
"Nobles' School," and, if he lives to ascend the 
throne, will be the first Japanese Emperor educated 
in a public school; and the Crown Princess Sada 
attended the Peeresses' School. 

The principal branches taught in the elementary 
schools are reading, writing, arithmetic (Japanese 
and foreign), composition, grammar, geography, his- 
tory, physical exercise, morals (Confucian), and 
English; those in the middle and higher schools 
are Japanese and Chinese history, composition, lan- 
guage and literature, general history, mathematics, 
sciences, philosophy, morals, physical exercise, Eng- 
lish, French, and German; in the universities the 
lines of study are varied and specialized. The 
Japanese learn both to translate, write, and speak 
the modern languages, and in the university may 
study Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. 

1 See " Chautauquan " for April, 1902. 



212 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

If we classify Japanese schools according to man- 
agement, there are three kinds: those respectively 
under the central government, local authorities, and 
private auspices. Those of the first class are under 
the supervision of the Department of Education, are 
mainly special schools and higher institutions of learn- 
ing, and are supported by appropriations voted by the 
Imperial Diet in the annual budget. Those of the 
second class are mainly elementary, middle and nor- 
mal schools, are under the supervision of the local 
authorities, and are supported by local taxes, some- 
times supplemented by national aid. Those of the 
third class are supported chiefly by tuition fees, but 
may also be assisted by individual beneficence. ^ 

The school age for children is from six to fourteen, 
and covers the period of the elementary school ; while 
the period of compulsory attendance is from six to 
ten years of age. During the latter period education 
is free ; and in any case tuition fees are arranged to 
suit the financial ability of the payer. Corporal 
punishment is not allowed in any school. 

The inspiring motive of education in Japan is 
found in an Imperial Rescript, which the Emperor 
issued in October, 1890. A copy of this is kept, 
often hanging framed, in every school, and on 
special occasions it is read aloud, while all the 
scholars reverently listen with bowed heads. It 
reads as follows : ^ — 

1 For a statistical table of schools in the empire, see Appendix. 
* Official translation, from Gary's " Japan and its Eegeneration." 



EDUCATION 213 

"Our Ancestors founded the State on a vast basis, 
while their virtues were deeply implanted ; and Our sub- 
jects, by their unanimity in their great loyalty and filial 
affection, have in all ages shown them in perfection. 
Such is the essential beauty of Our national polity, and 
such, too, is the true spring of Our educational system. 
You, Our beloved subjects, be filial to your parents, affec- 
tionate to your brothers, be loving husbands and wives, 
and truthful to your friends. Conduct yourselves with 
modesty, and be benevolent to all. Develop your intel- 
lectual faculties and perfect your moral powers by gain- 
ing knowledge and by acquiring a profession. Further, 
promote the public interests and advance the public 
affairs ; ever respect the national Constitution and obey 
the laws of the country ; and in case of emergency, 
courageously sacrifice yourselves to the public good. 
Thus offer every support to Our Imperial dynasty, 
which shall be as lasting as the universe. You will 
then not only be Our most loyal subjects, but will be 
enabled to exhibit the noble character of your ancestors. 

"Such are the testaments left us by Our ancestors, 
which must be observed alike by their descendants and 
subjects. These precepts are perfect throughout all 
ages and of universal application. It is Our desire to 
bear them in Our heart in common with you, Our sub- 
jects, to the end that we may constantly possess these 
virtues." 

There are between 200 and 300 kindergartens, 
public and private, in Japan; and they are con- 
ducted, so far as outward forms are concerned, very 
much as in America and Europe. The common 
means of training are games, singing, conversation, 
and handiwork. But the Christian kindergartens 



214 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

are the only ones that carry out to full fruition 
the real spirit, as expressed in Froebel's own words : 
" My system is based upon religion and leads up to 
religion." The Christian kindergartens are quite 
popular and successful. 

The Japanese elementary school, like the Ameri- 
can grammar school, covers a period of eight years, 
which is, however, divided into two parts of four 
years each. The lower portion is called the "com- 
mon elementary school, " and the upper portion is the 
"higher elementary school.'" In many a small vil- 
lage only the former is maintained, and the latter is 
often carried on by the co-operation of several vil- 
lages ; but in large places both exist, either separately 
or conjointly. Under certain circumstances a sup- 
plementary course may be established in elementary 
schools {Sh5 Gakko). English may be begun in the 
higher elementary school, and it is required in every 
middle school. 

Each prefecture must maintain at least one middle 
school (Chil GaTcko)^ and three prefectures have as 
many as seven each. This institution corresponds 
practically to an American high school; but its 
course of study covers five years, besides the op- 
portunity of a supplementary year. Candidates for 
admission must be over twelve years of age, and 
possess attainments equal to those who have com- 
pleted the second year of the higher elementary 
school. Thus two years of these schools lap over 
each other. The number of middle schools, in spite 




IMPERIAL UNIVEKSITY BUILDINGS, TOKYO 



EDUCATION 215 

of annual increase, is still inadequate to accommodate 
all the applicants. 

There are in Japan seven " higher schools " (^Koto 
GaJcko}, located at Tokyo, Sendai, Kj^oto, Kanazawa, 
Kumamoto, Okayama, and Yamaguchi. These bear 
numbers in the order given above, and are often called 
by the name "High School," because the word Koto 
means simply "high grade." If the reader, for in- 
stance, sees elsewhere a reference to the " Third High 
School," it will refer to the Koto Gakko at Kyoto. 
The word "Higher" is, therefore, used in this book 
to avoid confusion. These schools are clearing-houses, 
or preparatory schools, for the universities, and have 
also their own complete departments. 

At present there are only two public universities 
in Japan, — at Tokyo and Kyoto. The former con- 
tains six colleges (Law, Medicine, Engineering, 
Literature, Science, and Agriculture) ; and the latter 
consists of only four colleges (Law, Medicine, Sci- 
ence, and Engineering), but others will be added 
gradually. There are also just two great private 
universities, both in Tokyo: the Keio-gijiku, founded 
by the late Mr. Fukuzawa, the "great commoner," 
and the "grand old man " of Japan; and the Waseda, 
founded by that veteran statesman. Count Okuma. 
There is no Christian institution of university grade, 
although it is confidently expected that the Doshisha, 
at Kyoto, will soon be elevated again to that rank. 
The Japanese universities have very good accommo- 
dations and equipment, with strong faculties, and are 



216 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

doing work worthy to be compared with that of Oc- 
cidental universities. One of the most unique phases 
of university work in Japan is the fact that the Im- 
perial University in Tokyo maintains a chair of seis- 
mology, or, in other words, supports a most important 
" professor of earthquakes" ! 

Common normal schools number over fifty; there 
must be at least one in each prefecture, and in four 
cases there are two or three each. Besides these 
and above these is a "higher normal school," or 
normal college, in Tokyo, with an elementary school 
and a middle school for practice work. There is 
also in Tokyo a "higher female normal school," with 
a kindergarten, an elementary school, and a high 
school for practice work. But these provisions are 
inadequate to supply the increasing demand for 
teachers in public schools. 

Inasmuch as Japan is an agricultural country 
and is rich in forests, agricultural and dendrologi- 
cal schools are a necessity, in order that the people 
may be able to make the most out of their re- 
sources. The Sapporo Agricultural College, founded 
by Americans in 1872, is the best of its kind, and 
furnishes a broader course of study than its name 
implies. 

And, in order that the industrial life of New Japan 
may be elevated, and both capital and labor may 
profit by the latest inventions and improvements, 
manual training and other technical schools have 
been started and are very popular. 



EDUCATION 217 

In view of the fact that the Japanese are not fitted 
by natural temperament for a mercantile life, and yet 
the geographical position of Japan is so well adapted 
to a commercial career, the need of thorough instruc- 
tion in modern methods of business has been keenly 
felt, and is being supplied by business colleges, of 
which the Higher Commercial School in Tokyo is 
most useful and prosperous. 

Formerly an adjunct of the above-mentioned insti- 
tution, but now an independent organization, is the 
Foreign Language School, Tokyo. Besides this, 
several foreign languages are taught in the middle 
and higher schools and the universities; and there 
are also a great many private schools and classes 
for instruction in one or more foreign languages. 
English is, of course, the most popular and most 
useful. 

The TokyS Fine Arts School is the best of its 
kind, and gives instruction in painting (both Japan- 
ese and European), designing, sculpture, and "in- 
dustrial arts," like engraving, puddling, casting, 
lacquer, etc. The Tokyo Academy of Music is a 
type of its kind, and gives instruction in vocal and 
instrumental music and musical composition. It has 
accomplished wonders along those lines. 

The education of the blind, the deaf, and the dumb 
is not neglected in Japan ; there are ten schools for 
the benefit of these unfortunates; and the govern- 
ment institution in Tokyo is the most important. 
Charity schools and orphan asylums are also carried 



218 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

on, chiefly under Christian auspices, in very poor 
districts in large cities. 

During the early years of New Japan female edu- 
cation was almost entirely in the hands of the Chris- 
tian missionaries, who alone seemed to realize the 
necessity of a better education and training for the 
future mothers of the nation. But thinking Japan- 
ese have come to realize, with Count Okuma, that 
all countries which have attempted "to work with 
the male sex as the single standard " have " fallen 
signally behind in the march of progress " ; and that 
" Japan by raising woman to her proper place should 
provide herself with a double standard." Thus it 
has come about that educational privileges for girls 
and young ladies are increasing. 

Law schools, medical schools, theological semi- 
naries, and other professional schools are numerous; 
on these lines private enterprise is very active, 
because the public institutions are inadequate. 

There used to be a great dearth of good private 
institutions of learning, and this lack was partly 
due to the fact that private enterprise in this direc- 
tion received little encouragsment, and public spirit 
was lacking on the part of those who might have 
assisted in this way. But recently both the ad- 
vantages of private schools and the opportunities 
thus afforded to men of means have come to be 
appreciated. 

In this connection a few words should be written 
concerning mission schools, which will also be con- 



EDUCATION 219 

sidered in the chapter on Christianity. In spite of 
limitations both from within and from without, these 
institutions, having their "ups and downs," never- 
theless maintained themselves and have won popular 
favor against a strong prejudice. They have always 
insisted upon a high mental and moral standard, and 
have without doubt aroused the public schools to raise 
their standards and ideals. Whatever may be said 
for or against mission schools as evangelizing agen- 
cies, it is generally acknowledged that, as educa- 
tional institutions, they have been models of correct 
pedagogical principles and exemplars of high morality. 

It is also interesting to note that, after a period 
during which the Japanese thought that they could 
teach foreign languages as well as foreigners, there 
is an increasing demand for foreign instructors. 
Within the past two years several young men from 
America have been engaged as teachers of English 
in middle schools; and such opportunities are in- 
creasing. Moreover, a larger number of students 
than ever are annually sent abroad by the govern- 
ment, or go abroad at their own expense, to finish 
their education. Thus narrow prejudices are dissi- 
pated and minds are broadened. 

Another means for improving the educational sys- 
tem of Japan is to be found in teachers' associations, 
educational societies, and summer institutes. The 
first two are local ; the last are national. The educa- 
tional societies are for the purpose of increasing the 
general interest in education in the different locali- 



220 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

ties; the teachers' associations are, as in America, 
for the improvement of methods of instruction ; and 
the summer institutes are for the same purpose on a 
broader scale. 

What was written about private schools may be re- 
peated concerning libraries. No Japanese Carnegie 
has yet appeared ; only a few men, like Mr. Ohashi, 
of Tokyo, and Baron Kodama, Governor-General of 
Formosa, have endowed libraries as memorials. The 
largest public library is the Imperial Library ^ in 
Tokyo, with over 400,000 volumes, of which more 
than 50,000 volumes are in European languages. 

It is in the domain of science that the Japanese 
have achieved, perhaps, their greatest intellectual 
successes. Their work in original investigation is 
always painstaking, and in many cases it has at- 
tained an international reputation. The names qf 
Dr. Kitasato, associated with the famous Dr. Koch 
in his researches, and Dr. Aoyama, the hero of the 
pest in China, are well known; and now comes Dr. 
Ishigami, who claims to have discovered the germ 
of smallpox. 

The chief defects in the Japanese educational 
system are on three lines: dependence on Chinese 
ideographs, vague instruction in ethics, and en- 
couragement of cramming. The removal of these 
hindrances to progress is engaging the attention of 
thoughtful educators, but is a slow and gradual 
process. 

1 This has recently secured the famous Max MuUer Library. 



EDUCATION 221 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



"The Wee Ones of Japan" (Mrs. Bramhall), pp. 97-108; 
"A Japanese Boy " (Shigemi) ; "Japanese Girls and Women " 
and " A Japanese Interior" (Miss Bacon), all give interesting 
accounts of school life in both Old and New Japan. The 
Department of Education issues annually in English, for free 
distribution on application, a "Report," which contains the 
latest statistics and other information. " The Educational 
Conquest of the Far East" (Lewis) is an excellent discussion 
of educational conditions and problems of the day in China 
and Japan. 



CHAPTER XVI 
ESTHETIC JAPAN 

Outline of Topics : Japan's debt to art. — Wide diffusion of 
aesthetic ideals. — Cliinese origin of Japanese art. — Painting the 
key-note. — Considered a form of poetry. — Characteristics. — 
Color prints. — Sculpture. — Keramics. — Metal work. — Cloisonne. 
Lacquer. — Embroidery. — Music. — Poetry. — Dancing. — Drama. 
Tea ceremonies. — Flower arrangement. — Landscape gardening. — 
Unity of the arts. — Bibliography. 

IT has been said with a great deal of truth that 
no other country in the world owes so much 
to its art as Japan. As Huish puts it, " Japan 
would never have attracted the extraordinary notice 
which she so rapidly did had it not been for her art. 
. . . Her art manufactures have penetrated the length 
and breadth of the world." Yet it is a curious fact, 
to which Chamberlain calls attention, that the Jap- 
anese have " no genuinely native word " for either 
art or nature. The expression " fine art " is com- 
monly represented by the word bi-jutsu, a Chinese 
compound meaning literally " beauty-craft." So in- 
timately are sesthetic ideals bound up with the whole 
course of Japanese life and modes of thought, that 
art is not, as in the Western world, a mere sporadic 
efflorescence, but the inevitable expression of the 
spirit of the Eastern civilization, and needing there- 



ESTHETIC JAPAN 223 

fore no distinctive term to denote it as a thing set 
apart and existing by itself. 

While this is true, it is also true that Japan 
furnishes no exception to Mr. Whistler's dictum that 
"there never was an art-loving nation." The ex- 
planation of this seeming paradox is one which needs 
to be borne in mind. The aesthetic ideals crystallized 
in the works of the countless generations of artists 
who for more than a thousand years have held to 
them firmly as their guiding principles, have become 
so much the intellectual heritage of the people as a 
whole that it is most natural that the foreign observer, 
noting the aesthetic impress upon everything about 
him, should look upon the Japanese as a nation of 
artists. To an extent not known elsewhere the Jap- 
anese mechanic is indeed an art-isan. And there is a 
measure of truth in Percival Lowell's assertion that 
there are " no mechanical arts in Japan simply because 
all such have been raised to the position of fine arts." ^ 
From the Japanese point of view, however, differ- 
ences in degree of artistic perception are as pronounced 
among the Japanese as among other peoples. In 
Japan, as in all other lands, artistic inspiration is 
given to but few among the many ; artists having 
creative genius tower high above their fellows ; and 
the httle touches that excite the wonder and admira- 
tion of the outside world are seen to be in large 
degree the outcome of conventional notions rather 
than the expression of individual feeling. 

1 " The Soul of the Far East," p. 121. 



224 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The art of Japan like most other elements in her 
civilization is of Chinese origin. Concurrently with 
the introduction by way of the Middle Kingdom of 
that stream of abstract idealism known as Northern 
Buddhism, China became the fountain head whence 
until comparatively recent times a succession of 
aesthetic ideas spread over Japan.^ Modern Chinese 
art is justly held to possess little merit, but in the 
days when it exerted its dominating influence upon 
the Japanese mind it had attained a very high stand- 
ard of excellence, and in particular some of the Chinese 
painters were among the greatest the world has ever 
known. With the exception of a few original modi- 
fications, the product of temperament and historical 
situation, everything in Japanese art has come from 
China ; yet the generic ideas have been so worked 
over and transformed in the process that the result- 
ant is distinctly not Chinese but Japanese. The in- 
fluence of Buddhism has been very great ; it would 
indeed, be difficult to overestimate it.^ Most of 
the earlier artists were Buddhist priests, and, until 
the revival of Shinto as the State religion, during the 
present reign, Buddhism was directly and indirectly 
one of the principal promoters and patrons of the arts. 

1 While it is possible and even probable that this movement 
may have begun before the formal introduction of Buddhism from 
Korea in the year 552, our present knowledge of the history of art 
in Japan anterior to that event is not suflScient to warrant any 
definite assertion respecting it. 

2 See " The Ideals of the East," by Kakasu Okakura. London, 
1903. 




PAINTING BY YASUNOBU : HERON AND LOTUS 



iESTHETIC JAPAN 225 

Foremost among the arts of Japan, both relatively 
and as the key which is necessary to understanding 
and appreciation of the others, is painting. It is an 
art differing in many respects from that of the 
European schools of painting, but not less worthy of 
serious consideration, and in certain qualities it ranks 
supreme. To those who have seen the masterpieces 
preserved among the temple treasures, or hidden in 
the collections of Japanese noblemen, and have felt 
their grandeur and charm, this will seem far short of 
over-statement. In the West, however, there is little 
opportunity to gauge the achievements of the great 
Japanese painters,^ and it is even possible to spend 
a hfetime in Japan and remain in ignorance thereof. 

Japanese critics have always considered painting 
to be a form of poetry. The painter therefore strives 
to represent the soul of things rather than their vis- 
ible forms. Not that he scorns realism, indeed he is 
often minutely realistic in a way that is unapproach- 
able ; but realism with him is only incidental, his 
main purpose being to produce a poem in form and 
color. To this end all irrelevant details are neces- 

1 The principal collections of Japanese paintings in America are 
the FenoUosa collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and 
that of Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit. A few fine works are 
owned by Mr. Henry 0. Havemeyer, Mr. Howard Mansfield, and 
Mr. C. D. Weldon, of New York ; Mr. Denman Ross, Mr. Quincy A. 
Shaw, and Mrs. John Gardner, of Boston ; Mr. Charles J. Morse, of 
TJniontown, Pa. ; and Mr. Frederick W. Gookin, of Chicago. In Eng- 
land the most notable collections are those of the British Museum 
and Mr. Arthur Morrison, of Loughton. There are also a number 
of private collections in France and Germany. 
15 



226 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

sarily omitted. Nothing is given that in any way 
interferes with the central thought. Reduced thus 
to its simplest elements, his art calls for the utmost 
harmony in all that enters into it, and first of all for 
perfect composition of line, mass, and vacant space. 
Scarcely less important is color arrangement, includ- 
ing the balancing of light and dark as factors in the 
result. A high degree of technical skill is also requi- 
site, for the poetry would be lost should the execution 
seem labored. The greatest works are, in appearance 
at least, spontaneous to an astonishing degree. Won- 
derful indeed are the possibilities of a single brush 
stroke in the hands of a master. The effects pro- 
duced range from almost microscopic realism to the 
broadest impressionism, the latter quality being pre- 
dominant in the works of some of the most eminent 
artists. 

So far as it is possible to sum them up in a brief 
statement, the distinguishing characteristics of Jap- 
anese painting are these : — 

1. Excellence of composition. 

2. Subtlety and beauty of line. 

3. Remarkable command of the brush, and directness 
of method in its use. 

4. Simplicity of treatment, and rigid exclusion of non- 
essentials. 

5. Absence of chiaroscuro, and the employment of 
notan^ or contrast between light and dark. 

6. Skilful generalization of forms. 

7. Poetical conception. 

8. High development of the sense of harmony in color. 



ESTHETIC JAPAN 227 

Any such summing up is, however, necessarily im- 
perfect. It is not feasible to give here any account 
of the various schools and artists, and the reader 
desiring more extended information is referred to the 
sources indicated in the bibliography appended to 
this chapter. Before leaAdng this branch of the sub- 
ject, mention should be made of calligraphy, which, 
although justly regarded in Japan as an art, is not so 
much a separate art as the art of painting applied to 
writing the Chinese ideographs. It will not appear 
strange, therefore, that masterly writing should be 
esteemed equally with painting. 

An art closely allied to painting is that of chromo- 
xylography, or color printing from engraved wood 
blocks. Nothing could be simpler than the method 
employed, the sheets of paper being laid face down 
on the block which has been previously inked with 
a brush, and pressure is then applied by rubbing the 
back of the sheets with a pad held in the hand of 
the printer. Nevertheless no greater triumphs of the 
printer's art have ever been achieved than the beautiful 
color prints of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 
after designs by Harunobu, Koriusai, Shunsho, Kyo- 
naga, Toyokuni, Utamaro, Hokusai, and other noted 
artists of the Popular school. Though still in use, this 
process is largely being superseded by the cheaper, 
if less artistic, processes of lithography, collotype, etc. 

In glyptic art the triumphs of the Japanese have 
been little less than in that of painting. The most 
remarkable specimens are the ancient figures in bronze 



228 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

and in wood which are preserved in the temples. The 
Daibutsu, or gigantic bronze statue of Buddha, at Kara 
will serve as an example, having been illustrated so 
often that all the world is familiar with its appearance. 

The objects upon which the art of the Japanese 
sculptors has been exercised are many. Particularly 
in the carving of the masks used in the Wo dances, 
and the little ornaments called netsuke^ the skill and 
artistic qualities displayed are often of the highest 
order. It would be difficult to overpraise the best 
work of such artists in this line, as Deme Jikan, 
Minko, Tomotada, Miwa, and many others. As in 
the case of painting, the method used by the carver 
must be direct and masterly to satisfy Japanese taste. 
Only clean, strong strokes will pass muster. Tliere 
must be no niggling nor retouching. Visitors to the 
shrines at Nikko will be impressed by this quality in 
the remarkable works to be found there by the famous 
seventeenth-century sculptor Hidari Jingoro, that is 
to say, " Left-handed Jingoro." 

One of the most ancient of the arts of Japan is 
that of the potter. It is also one of the most profit- 
able for study. The principles which have been 
enumerated as applicable to painting will be found 
carefully embodied in the fabrication and ornamenta- 
tion of keramic wares, the variety of which is endless. 
In some instances these wares are known by the 
names of the makers, as Ninsei, Kenzan, Kozan, 
Seifu, and others; but in general they are desig- 
nated by the names of the provinces wherein they 




PAINTING BY HO-ITSU : VIEW OF FUJI-SAN 



AESTHETIC JAPAN 229 

are made. Thus we have the wares of Satsuma, Hizen, 
Arita, Imari, Kaga, Kyoto, Owari, Bizen, Iga, Ota, 
Soma, Iziimo, and many more. Occasionally the name 
of a particular locality is used, as for instance that of 
Seto in Owari. Here it was that Shirozaemon, called 
" the Father of Pottery," estabhshed himself in the 
thirteenth century ; and such was the repute of the 
products of his kiln that Seto-mono, or Seto ware, 
became a generic name in Japan for all keramic pro- 
ductions, quite as in English we use the term " china " 
for all kinds of porcelain wherever made. 

Unfortunately the Japanese potter of to-day is 
largely under the influence of foreign markets, to 
the great degradation of his art. The condition is 
well portrayed by Huish, who says : " The wealthy 
' red-hairs ' who came to him from the West could see 
no beauties in the objects that had given the greatest 
pleasure to the men of refinement of his own country ; 
and in order that the potter might participate in the 
overflow of silver dollars with which the foreigners 
were blessed, he was obliged to put aside those prin- 
ciples which he and his father before him had looked 
upon as the fundamental ones of their craft, and pro- 
duce wares totally at variance with his preconceived 
ideas of the right." 

Many and distinctive are the arts of the Japanese 
metal-workers. They are widely renowned for their 
skill in compounding numerous alloys, for inlaying 
one metal upon another, for clever manipulation of 
refractory materials such as wrought iron of exceeding 



230 A handbook: of modern japan 

toughness which they nevertheless carve and chase 
almost as though it were wax, for casting in bronze 
and iron by the cire perdue process, and especially 
for the manufacture of armor, both offensive (such as 
swords and spears) and defensive (such as helmets 
And coats of mail). Japanese swords excel even the 
famous blades of Damascus and Toledo, and the 
names of the swordsmiths Munichika, Masamune, 
Muramasa, and others, are now of international rep- 
utation. The blades which were made by these 
men are not only of extraordinary excellence, but are 
also veritable works of art and highly prized as 
such by connoisseurs. Equally celebrated in different 
lines are the works of the Miochin and Goto families ; 
and among the metal-workers of to-day are many 
worthy successors of these giants of the past. 

The art of enamelling upon metal is, with some 
exceptions, comparatively a new one in Japan, but 
is now very popular. The wares are known to the 
Japanese as Shippo-yahi, and in general, in the West, 
as cloisonne. The centres of the enamel- workers 
are Toky5, Kyoto, and Nagoya, and the best-known 
makers are Namikawa, of Tokyo, the inventor of the 
" cloison-less " enamel, and his namesake of Kyoto. 

One of the most distinctive of the arts of Japan 
is that of lacquering, and the Japanese product far 
excels that of any other makers. The lac, which is 
a varnish made from the poisonous sap of a tree of 
the sumac (rhus) family, is applied in thin layers 
on a carefully prepared ground, usually of wood, and 



ESTHETIC JAPAN 231 

after being dried in a moist oven or steam-chest, is 
carefully rubbed down and polished. This is repeated 
with each layer. Various substances, metallic and 
other, are mixed with the lac or applied to its surface 
before it is dry, and it may be carved and inlaid in 
different ways. This is a bare outline of a process 
which is long and tedious and which has many varia- 
tions. Extended accounts with many interesting de- 
tails will be found in Rein's " Industries of Japan," 
in the ninth volume of the Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan, and in Volume VII. of Captain 
Brinkley's " Japan." 

Embroidery, like the designing for brocades and 
other fabrics, is an art which follows closely the 
analogies of the art of painting, and is governed by 
the same aesthetic principles. The embroiderers in 
Japan are not women but men, and in their work they 
often display remarkable taste and ability as designers, 
as well as craftsmanship of the highest order. 

To Occidental ears Japanese music, set, as it always 
is, in a minor key and abounding in discords, seems 
unworthy of the name of music. To characterize it 
as merely " strummings and squealings " because it 
does not conform to our ideas, is, however, an unfair 
aspersion. The fact is that it is based upon a scale 
which differs from that which we use, one of its 
peculiarities being the introduction of a semi-tone 
above the tonic. In the Japanese mind music is so 
closely related to the sister arts of poetry and dancing 
that neither can well be treated separately. As 



232 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Captain Brinkley tells us : " There is no Japanese 
music that will not serve as accompaniment for the 
Japanese stanza, and the stanza, in turn, adapts itself 
perfectly to the fashion of the Japanese dance. The 
law of the unities seems to have prescribed that the 
cadence of the stanza should melt into the lilt of 
the song, and that the measure of the song should 
be worked out by the 'woven paces and waving 
hands' of the dance. The affinity between them is 
so close that it is difficult to tell where one begins 
and the other ends." 

Japanese poetrj'- is also conspicuously different from 
that of the Occident. It is a form of word painting 
in brief lyrics, and " it is primarily an expression of 
emotion." The odes which all Japanese learn to 
compose are verbal melodies which can be neither 
transposed nor translated. Owing to the nature of 
the Japanese language, there are no accented syllables, 
nor is there any quantity, nor any rhyme. This is 
well explained by Aston in his " History of Japanese 
Literature." He says: — 

" As every syllable ends in a vowel, and as there are 
only five vowels, there could only be five rhymes, the 
constant reiteration of which would be intolerably mo- 
notonous. . , . The only thing in the mechanism of Jap- 
anese poetry which distinguishes it from prose is the 
alternation of phrases of Jive and seven syllables each. 
It is, in fact, a species of blank verse." 

The art of dancing, which consists mainly in 
rhythmic posturings, often of great beauty, and re- 



ESTHETIC JAPAN 233 

quiring not only physical training of the most rigor- 
ous character but a high degree of skill, is in turn 
intimately associated with the histrionic art. For an 
account of the early dances and their gradual merg- 
ing into the classical drama or dance known as No 
(literally, "accomplishment"), the reader is referred 
to the third volume of Captain Brinkley's " Japan : 
Its History, Arts, and Literature." Few foreigners 
ever learn to appreciate Japanese dancing. Its pri- 
mary purpose is mimetic. " The mechanics of the 
dance," says Brinkley, "are as nothing to the Jap- 
anese spectator compared with the music of its motion, 
and he interprets the staccato and legato of its passages 
with discrimination amounting almost to instinct. 
In exceptional cases the foreigner's perception may 
be similarly subtle," but as he must generally be 
unable to apprehend the esoterics of the dance, he is 
" like one watching a drama where an unknown plot 
is acted in an unintelligible language." 

As to the Japanese drama proper, it differs from 
our own chiefly in the stage setting and accessories, 
and in the greater importance given to the mimetic 
side of the performance. 

An art essentially Japanese is that of flower arrange- 
ment. In its origin it is closely related to the 
Cha-no-yu, or Tea Ceremonial, which developed into 
a cult during the Shogunate of Ashikaga Yoshimasa 
in the fifteenth century. This cult, which was 
founded on the four cardinal virtues of urbanity, 
courtesy, purity, and imperturbability, has been a 



234 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

mighty force in holding the Japanese true to a high 
standard in matters of taste, by combining " aesthetic 
eclecticism of the most fastidious nature with the 
severest canons of simplicity and austerity." The 
end has been achieved not so much by the elaborate 
code as through what it stands for; the ceremony 
being in reality a gathering of connoisseurs to view 
works of art, each of which to win favor must meet 
the requirements of the most exacting taste. Out 
of the aesthetic necessity of making fitting disposition 
of the flowers introduced into the tea-room, grew the 
art of Ihe-hana, or flower arrangement. This has 
gradually come to have an elaborate code of its own, 
and several distinct " schools " have arisen. In a 
general way it may be said that the art consists 
in arranging flowers with regard to harmonious com- 
position of line, while keeping in mind certain poetic 
analogies which must not be violated, and the ap- 
pearance of vitality and natural growth. Here, again, 
the principles of composition in painting find their 
application. 

Still another application is found in landscape gar- 
dening, which in the hands of the Japanese is also 
a fine art. This too has its different " schools " and 
its special code of rules, formulated during the many 
centuries of development at the hands of successive 
generations of artists. 

Japan is, in truth, a shining example of the essen- 
tial unity of all the arts, and illustrates admirably 
the truth of the old saying, Natura artis maltster 



^ESTHETIC JAPAN 235 

(Nature the mistress of art). Unfortunately^ what 
has been said in this chapter applies more to Old 
Japan than to the Japan of to-day. Modern Japan, 
whether rightly or wrongly, is becoming tired of being 
praised for aesthetic excellence, and is more anxious 
to be appraised and appreciated for its material, social, 
commercial, and political " progress." To the cul- 
tivated Japanese, who regard art as the highest out- 
come and flowering of civilization, this tendency is 
not encouraging. And as to the future of Japanese 
art, its perpetuation must come from excluding rather 
than attempting to amalgamate Western ideas. In 
the impressive words of Okakura, the outcome will 
be " victory from within, or a mighty death without." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Painting : " The Pictorial Arts of Japan" (Anderson) ; "Cata- 
logue of Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Mu- 
seum " (Anderson) ; " The Painters of Japan " (Morrison). 

Prints: " An Outline of the History of Ukiyo-ye " (Fenollosa) ; 
" Geschichte des Japanischen Farbenholzschnitts " (Seidlitz) ; 
"Japanese Illustration" (Strange); "Japanese Wood En- 
gravings " (Anderson) ; " Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood- 
cut Printing " (Totuno). 

Pottery: "Catalogue of the Morse Collection of Japanese 
Pottery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" (Morse); "Japan: 
Its History, Art, and Literature " (Brinkley) ; "Keramic Art 
of Japan " (Audsley and Bowes) ; " L'Art Japonais " (Gonse). 

Glyptic Art: "Histoire de I'Art du Japan," published by the 
Japanese Commission for the Paris Exposition of 1900. 
This work contains much information about all the arts, not 
available elsewhere. 

Metal Work — Lacquer : " The Industries of Japan " (Rein) ; 
" Notes on Shippo " (Bowes) ; " Ornamental Arts of Japan " 



286 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

(Audsley) ; "L'Art Japonais " (Gonse) ; "Japan and its 

Art " (Huish). 
Music: *' The Music and Musical Instruments of Japan" 

(Piggott); " Miyako-Dori " (Bevan). 
Poetry: " History of Japanese Literature " (Aston) ; " Classical 

Poetry of the Japanese " (Chamberlain) ; " Japanese Odes " 

(Dickins). 
Drama : " Artistic Japan,'' vol. v. (edited by S. Bing). 
Flower Arrangement : "The Flowers of Japan and the Art of 

Floral Arrangement" (Conder). 
Landscape- Gardening : " Landscape- Gardening in Japan" 

(Conder). 
General : " An Artist's Letters from Japan " (La Farge) ; " Jin- 

rikisha Days in Japan " (Scidmore). 



CHAPTER XVII 1 
DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 

Outline of Topics: Religion in Japan; Shintd; a "natural 
religion " ; simple services ; religious patriotism ; perfunctory wor- 
ship ; Shinto doomed " as a religion " ; secularization of Ise shrines ; 
element of embarrassment to Christians; "worship" (■?) of Em- 
peror's portrait; difficulties in translation of Christian terms; 
method of reforms in Japan ; future of Shintd. — Bibliography. 

IT is a curious fact that Japan cannot boast of an 
indigenous religion, or of much original mental 
or moral philosophy. " Shinto " (The Gods' 
Way), purely Japanese in its origin, is only a cult, 
a system of worship, not a religion, or even a phi- 
losophy. Buddhism and Confucianism came in from 
China, perhaps through Korea, and Christianity en- 
tered from Europe and America. 

Shinto is a system in which the deification and 
worship of heroes, emperors, family ancestors, and 
forces of nature play an important part. It has no 
dogmas, no sacred books, no moral code, " no philos- 
ophy, no code of ethics, no metaphysics " ; it sums up 
its theory of human duty in the following injunction : 
" Follow your natural impulses and obey the laws of 

1 A large portion of this chapter is reprinted, by permission, 
from " The Standard/' Chicago. 



238 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

the State. " ^ It requires of its adherents nothing 
except worship at certain temples or shrines on 
stated days. A "pure Shinto" temple is an ex- 
ceedingly plain affair, in front of which, at a little 
distance, is invariably set a torii^ or arch. Without 
idols, the temple contains, as emblems of Shinto, 
strips of paper hanging from a wand, together with 
a mirror. The form of ordinary worship is simple : 
it consists of washing the face, or hands, or both, 
with holy water; of ringing a bell, or clapping the 
hands, to call the god's attention; of casting in a 
coin as an offering ; of standing with clasped hands 
during a short prayer, and of making a farewell bow. 
This ceremony is sufficient to " cover a multitude of 
sins " ! At the regular festivals there are special and 
elaborate services, at which the priests (often lay- 
men) officiate. Pilgrimages to holy spots, usually 
"high places," are important in Shinto. 

But Shinto seems destined to decay as naturally as 
it developed. According to the best authorities, it 
was, in the original and purest form, ancestor- 
worship combined with the worship of nature. That 
is to say, it arose from the natural reverence paid to 
ancestors, whether individual or national, and from 

1 "Shinto signifies character in the highest sense, — courage, 
courtesy, honor, and, above all things, loyalty. The spirit of 
Shinto is the spirit of filial piety [Lat. pietas], the zest of duty, 
the readiness to surrender life for a principle. ... It is the docility 
of the child ; it is the sweetness of the Japanese woman. ... It is 
religion — but religion transmuted into hereditary moral impulse — 
religion transmuted into ethical instinct. It is the whole emotional 
life of the race, — the Soul of Japan." — Hearn. 



DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 239 

the awe inspired by the wonderful and frequently 
horrible forces of nature. In time these two ele- 
ments became more or less confused, so that eventu- 
ally, in some cases, national ancestors were identified 
with heavenly bodies, and the sun, for instance, wor- 
shipped as a goddess, was called the special ancestor 
of the Japanese nation. It seems proper, therefore, 
to call Shinto, so far as the word "religion" is ap- 
plicable to it, a " natural religion " in more senses 
than one of the word "natural."^ 

It has just been intimated that the word " religion " 
is not in all points applicable to Shinto. It has, for 
instance, no dogmas or creed, except the very simple 
and general injunction: "Follow your own natural 
impulses and obey the laws of the State." Dr. 
Nitobe says, in his book entitled " Bushido " : " The 
tenets of Shintoism cover the two predominating 
features of the emotional life of our race — patri- 
otism and loyalty." Its services are very simple, 

1 " Shinto is the Japanese conception of the cosmos. It is a com- 
bination of the worship of nature and of their own ancestors. . . . 
To the Japanese eye, the universe itself took on the paternal look. 
Awe of their parents, which these people could comprehend, lent 
explanation to dread of nature, which they could not. Quite co- 
gently, to their minds, the thunder and the typhoon, the sunshine 
and the earthquake, were the work not only of anthropomorphic 
beings, but of beings ancestrally related to themselves. In short, 
Shinto ... is simply the patriarchal principle projected without 
perspective into the past, dilating with distance into deity." 

" Shint5 is so Japanese it will not down. It is the faith of these 
people's birthright, not of their adoption. Its folk-lore is what 
they learned at the knee of the race-mother, not what they were 
taught from abroad. Buddhist they are by virtue of belief ; Shinto 
by virtue of being." — Lowell, "The Soul of the Far East." 



240 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

and consist of the presentation of offerings and the 
recital of formal addresses, which are partly praises 
and partly prayers. In one ritual, that of purifica- 
tion, it is true that there may be seen signs of moral 
instruction ; but this is now a mere formal ceremony, 
performed, perhaps, only twice a year in some, not 
all, of the principal Shinto shrines. Certainly, in 
the sense that Christianity, with its creeds, whether 
simple or complex, its moral doctrines, its spiritual 
teachings, its outlook into the future life, its re- 
straining and uplifting influence upon the individual 
and society, is called a religion, Shinto has no right 
to that appellation. 

But as a system of national as well as of individ- 
ual worship, including prayers to the deified an- 
cestors or national heroes or to the personified and 
deified powers of nature, Shinto is properly a re- 
ligion. And there can be no doubt that, in the 
eyes of the great mass of the people, it has all the 
force of a religion. One needs to stand but a few 
minutes in front of a Shinto shrine to observe that 
the mode of worship is practically the same as that 
before a Buddhist temple. This does not refer to 
the regular public ceremonies at stated times, but 
to the brief ordinary visits of the common people to 
the shrines and temples as they may be passing by. 
In their hearts there is apparently as much "wor- 
ship " and " reverence " in one case as in the other. 
And this superstitious attitude of the people toward 
Shinto has been utilized on more than one occasion 



DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 241 

in political measures, so that Shinto has often been 
nothing but a political engine. " In its lower forms 
[it] is blind obedience to governmental and priestly- 
dictates." It has thus been unfairly used as a test 
of so-called patriotism, a kind of ecclesiastical patri- 
otism, founded on mythology and superstition. Thus 
Shinto has been, as Sir Ernest Satow called it, "in 
a certain sense, a state religion, since its temples are 
maintained out of the imperial and local revenues, 
and the attendance of the principal officials is re- 
quired by court etiquette at certain annual festivals 
which are celebrated at the palace." Similarly, local 
officials are required to be present and "worship" 
on certain occasions at local shrines. As Dr. Griffis 
has remarked, "To those Japanese whose first idea 
of duty is loyalty to the Emperor, Shinto thus be- 
comes a system of patriotism exalted to the rank of 
a religion." 

But the relation of the educated classes toward 
Shinto is quite different. A knowledge of science 
has shown the foolishness of personifying and deify- 
ing the forces of nature and of worshipping foxes, 
badgers, and other animals. Moreover, the scientific 
study of the Japanese annals has revealed the ab- 
surdities of much that had been accepted as real 
history, and has shown that the so-called historical 
foundation of Shinto is a mass of myths and legends. 
The well-educated Japanese do not believe the non- 
sense of the " Kojiki " upon which the claim that the 
Emperor should be worshipped is based ; but few, if 
16 



242 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

any, dare to give public expression to their own pri- 
vate opinions, for they love life and reputation more 
than liberty of speech. And many of those who 
really know better not only will employ the old fic- 
tions in word of mouth or on the written page, but 
will even visit shrines and go perfunctorily through 
the forms of worship. 

Now it is quite evident that, ever since the opening 
of Japan and the consequent spread of popular edu- 
cation, the diffusion of scientific knowledge, and the 
propagation of Christianity, Shinto as a religion has 
been doomed. Not merely monotheism, but also 
science, ridiculed the Shinto doctrine of myriads of 
gods ; and even atheism and agnosticism, so heartily 
welcomed in Japan, would not lend any support to 
the superstitions of Shinto, Ever since the Restora- 
tion of 1868, which was, of course, a revival of pure 
political Shinto, frequent attempts have been made 
to have Shinto declared, in actual fact, by special 
enactment, the State religion of Japan. But reli- 
gious Shinto has been suffering a gradual decline, as 
Dr. Griffis shows in " The Religions of Japan. " For 
a little while the council that had charge of Shinto 
matters " held equal authority with the great council 
of the government. Pretty soon the first step down- 
ward was taken, and from a supreme council it was 
made one of the ten departments of the government. 
In less than a year followed another retrograde move- 
ment, and the department was called a board. Finally, 
in 1877, the board became a bureau." And, in the 



DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 243 

closing year of the nineteenth century, another step 
downward was taken by making a complete official 
demarcation between Shinto shrines and Buddhist 
temples. Hereafter Buddhist and Christian matters 
come under the charge of the Bureau of Religions; 
while Shinto affairs are entirely secularized and set 
apart under a Bureau of Shrines. This is the final 
step in the official disestablishment of Shinto. It 
is one of the greatest triumphs of civilization and 
Christianity in Japan, for it has evidently been made 
necessary by the spread of the gospel ; and this move 
is fraught with deep significance, with great promise 
and encouragement. 

Even before this official action had been taken, the 
necessity for completely secularizing Shinto had been 
fully recognized within its own circles. In 1899 
the officials of the Great Shrine at Ise, in which are 
preserved the mirror, the sword, and the jewel, the 
three sacred treasures of Shinto, took the proper 
legal steps to become a secular organization. They 
asserted that Shinto is "merely a mechanism for 
keeping generations in touch with generations, and 
preserving the continuity of the nation's veneration 
for its ancestors." Shinto could never hope "to 
stand as a religion," but it might stand "as the 
embodiment of a national sentiment." According to 
the editor of the " Japan Mail, " the leaders of Shint5 
have "shown great astuteness " in taking that step; 
and others have even suggested that they have very 
shrewdly laid a most dangerous trap for Christians 



244 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

by attempting to deprive them of a valid reason for 
not participating in Shint5 ceremonies. 

And there is no doubt that there still remains an 
element of embarrassment to Christians. Nominally 
and theoretically, Shinto is no longer a religion ; it is 
" merely a cult embodying the principle of veneration 
for ancestors, and having for its chief function the 
performance of rites in memory of the [so-called] 
divine ancestors of the empire's sovereigns." But 
the common people will continue to regard Shinto 
in the light of a religion, and to worship and pray at 
the shrines. Until, therefore, the masses are edu- 
cated up to a knowledge of the distinctions between 
"human" and "divine," "secular" and "religious," 
"reverence" and "worship," they will continue to 
bow their heads, clap their hands, and mumble 
their prayers at Shinto shrines. Christians, of 
course, ought not to indulge in such practices ; but, 
because such things are done by those who do not 
know better, should they refrain entirely from par- 
ticipating in national celebrations and patriotic cere- 
monies ? Or should they, regardless of what others 
may be doing, take part in whatever way their con- 
sciences will allow? Is this a case in which Paul's 
instructions about eating meat and things offered to 
idols would be applicable ? 

This is really much the same question that 
arose some years ago with reference to bowing be- 
fore the Emperor's portrait. To that ceremony the 
common word for " worship " [reihai or hairei] was 



DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 245 

applied; and therefore many Christians conscien- 
tiously refused to perform it. Now, those Japanese 
words are composed of re*, a very common term in- 
dicating any polite act, and Tiai^ which in its original 
ideographic form was written with a picture of two 
hands clasped, and therefore naturally indicates 
worship. But this word hai is an integral part of 
such words as haiken (a very polite expression for 
"please let me see"), haishaJcu ("please lend"), 
haikei (the humble phrase at the beginning of a 
letter). In all these cases the word hai expresses 
a humble request to a superior, originally made with 
clasped hands and bowed head. These words are 
in daily use by Christians, including missionaries, 
without conscientious scruples, because they are ap- 
parently cases of what rhetoricians call " fossil meta- 
phors." It would appear, then, that hai^ which 
gives reihai its significance of "worship," may have 
shades of meaning, just as we speak, not only of the 
"worship of the one, true God," but also of "hero- 
worship." It is, in fact, a question of terms in a 
language and among a people where such fine dis- 
tinctions are not drawn between the secular and the 
religious, the common and the uncommon, the holy 
and the unholy. In a country where each person 
must humble himself before others and must express 
that humility in words and deeds that to Occidentals 
suggest Uriah Heep, and where profound bows are 
the most ordinary occurrence, bowing to the Em- 
peror's portrait is scarcely "worship." It is no 



246 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

more " worship " or " idolatry " than baring the head 
when the United States flag was raised at San Juan 
de Porto Rico, or when the British sing " God Save 
the King," or than standing with bared and bowed 
heads before an open grave. To repeat, the whole 
question is largely one of terms in a language under- 
going great transitions and modifications through 
contact with Occidental thought and speech. 

In this connection the whole subject of trans- 
lation comes up. What Japanese words, for in- 
stance, shall be used for "God," "spirit," "love," 
"home," "worship," "personal," and many other 
terms? The ideas included in such words do not 
exist in the Japanese mind, and therefore there 
are no absolutely equivalent terms. Either old 
words of lower concepts must be used, or words 
must be coined; in either case the full idea of the 
original is not transferred to the Japanese mind 
without considerable explanation. But this is a 
digression. 

This disestablishment of Shinto is another instance 
of the peculiar method by which reforms, whether 
political, social, or moral, are usually accomplished 
in Japan. In Occidental nations political reforms 
have been initiated by the people, by the power of 
public opinion ; and popular rights have been wrested 
by the ruled from the unwilling rulers, whether feudal 
barons or monarchs. But in Japan all the political 
and social reforms of the last few decades have been 
imposed by the ruling classes upon the indifferent 



DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 247 

people. It is probably true that the great mass of the 
Japanese care very little, if any, whether their gov- 
ernment is an absolute or a constitutional monarchy ; 
know scarcely anything about the cabinet, the Im- 
perial Diet, the new codes, and such things; and are 
contented with the old customs, costumes, ceremo- 
nies, and religions. They are not like that Irishman 
who, when he was asked, immediately upon landing 
in New York, to which party he belonged, promptly 
replied, "I'm agin the government." The common 
people of Japan go to the other extreme and are 
always "for the government"; that is, they favor 
the established order, whatever it may be, and do 
not want any disturbance. Or it may, perhaps, be 
nearer the truth to say that they keep " the noiseless 
tenor of their way," regardless of what changes may 
be transpiring in social and political Japan. But, 
although they are natural conservatives, they are, 
nevertheless, able to adapt themselves gradually to 
the new order of things, as soon as these are firmly 
established. Now this disestablishment of Shinto 
has not come about, as idolatry has often been over- 
thrown in the isles of the sea, in accordance with 
the demands of the people, who had learned better 
from the teachings of Christianity and modern 
science; but it has been carried out somewhat as a 
political measure by the government, and the people 
must still be educated up to an understanding of the 
new status of Shinto. 

But, although Shinto will continue for some time 



248 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

to be considered a religion by the mass of the people, 
and thus the full results of disestablishment cannot 
be immediately realized ; yet this official removal of 
Shinto from the position of a religion is one of the 
most important reforms of this great reform era in 
Japan. When Constantine disestablished the religions 
of Greece and Rome by establishing Christianity as 
the religion of his empire, the worship of Zeus (or 
Jupiter), of Aphrodite (or Venus), and of the other 
deities of Olympus, did not cease at once; nor, on 
the other hand, did the efforts of Julian succeed in 
reviving the old idolatry. Shinto will linger and 
continue to attract thousands of worshippers to its 
shrines; but it is doomed to die as perished the 
Greek and Roman religions. Amaterasu, the sun- 
goddess, will yet have her votaries in Japan as had 
Apollo in Greece and Rome; but the rays of the 
Sun of Righteousness will dispel the darkness of 
this myth. The farmers will continue to make their 
offerings and their petitions at the shrines of Inari 
Sama, the rice-god, and will attempt to propitiate 
the wrath of the god of thunder and lightning; but 
they will gradually learn of the Almighty, who send- 
eth seed-time and harvest, lightning and thunder, rain 
and sunshine. The sailors and fishermen will con- 
tinue their worship at the shrines of their special 
deities, until they know of Him who maketh the seas 
to be calm and the winds to be still. Therefore, al- 
though the Japanese government has pronounced the 
sentence of death upon the Shinto religion, the exe- 



DISESTABLISHMENT OF SHINTO 249 

cution of that sentence will be a very gradual and 
prolonged affair. In the mean time it behooves the 
disciples of Jesus Christ to be unremitting in their 
labors of teaching the Japanese people to substitute 
for " the Way of the Gods " the religion of Him who 
said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

See Rein's " Japan," Peery's " Gist of Japan," Gary's " Japan 
and its Regeneration," Knapp's " Feudal and Modern Japan," 
and Lowell's " Soul of the Far East," pp. 162-193. But espe- 
cially valuable are " The Religions of Japan " (Griffis), " Occult 
Japan " (Lowell), Hearn's works, and papers by Sir Ernest Satow 
and Dr. Florenz in Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vols, 
ii., iii. (App.), vii., ix., xxvii. These references are, of course, 
on the general subject of Shinto rather than the special topic of 
this chapter. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 

Outline of Topics : Confucianism ; " Fiye Relations " ; Bu- 
shido; influences of Confucianism and Bushido. — Buddhism; gen- 
eral view ; chief sects ; Tendai sect ; Shingon sect ; Zen sect ; 
J5do sect ; Shin sect ; Nichiren sect ; New Buddhism ; influences of 
Buddhism ; corruption of Buddhism ; control of cemeteries ; mixed 
sects. — Relations of Shinto, Confucianism, and Buddhism. — Re- 
ligious toleration. — Bibliography. 

THE philosophical teachings of Confucius 
were very popular in Japan among the edu- 
cated classes, who, caring little for religion 
were content to supplement Shinto with Confu- 
cianism. Its moral code undoubtedly proved bene- 
ficial to Japan in many respects ; but now it is 
practically superseded by the doctrines of Western 
atheistic, agnostic, and materialistic philosophy. 

The "five relations" (^gorin), around which clus- 
tered the Confucian ethical code, were those of 
Father and Son, Ruler and Ruled, Husband and 
Wife, Elder and Younger Brothers, and Friends. In 
China, " filial piety," the great virtue of the first 
relation, was the foundation of the whole system; 
but in Japanese Confucianism this was relegated 
to the second place, and " loyalty," the great virtue 
of the second relation, was put first. The scope 



CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 251 

of this relation, moreover, was quite wide ; it in- 
cluded not only the relation between the sovereign 
and his subjects, but also that between a lord and 
his retainers, and even that between any master and 
servants. The virtue of the third relation was known 
as " distmction," which practically meant that each 
should know and keep his or her own place; that 
of the fourth relation was "order," which insisted 
upon the primacy of seniority in age; and between 
friends the typical virtue was " faith," or " trust," 
or "confidence." 

The word Bushido means, literally, " The Warrior's 
Way," which was the code of ethics that prevailed 
in Feudal Japan, and whose influence is still felt, 
although waning, in Modern Japan. It was the 
moral code of Japanese chivalry, of the knight and 
of the gentleman. It has not inaptly been styled 
" Japonicized Confucianism," for it was chiefly Con- 
fucian in its constitution. But it gathered elements 
from Shinto and Buddhism: from the latter it re- 
ceived fatalism (Stoicism) ; and from the former it 
received loyalty and patriotism, which meant prac- 
tically the same thing. It ignored personal chastity 
(except in women) ; it encouraged suicide and re- 
venge; but it emphasized justice, courage, benevo- 
lence, pohteness, veracity, honor, and self-control. 
One of its most powerful principles was giri (right 
reason), which is difficult to translate or define, 
but comes pretty close to what we call " duty " or 
" the right. " This still maintains a potent influence 



252 A HAm)BOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

in New Japan, and often accounts for erratic pro- 
cedures. Indeed, so-called peculiarities of the Jap- 
anese cannot be understood without a knowledge 
of Bushido, which has been analyzed in a flattering 
manner in Dr. Nitobe's book, entitled " Bushido, 
the Soul of Japan." 

Inasmuch as the influence of Confucianism in 
Japan was chiefly manifested through Bushido, to 
be correct, we ought to speak of their joint influ- 
ences. But since Bushido, as we have just seen, 
was largely Confucianism, slightly modified to suit 
the needs of the Japanese spirit (Yamato-damashii)^ 
we shall, for convenience, follow other writers in 
using the term " Confucianism." Rein testifies that 
in Japan " widely diffused religious indifference and 
formal atheism are the consequences " of the pursuit 
of Confucianism. Chamberlain says that "during 
the two hundred years that followed, the whole 
intellect of the country was moulded by Confucian 
ideas." Griffis bears similarly strong testimony, and 
emphasizes the fact that " all Japanese social, official, 
intellectual, and literary life was permeated with the 
new spirit of Confucian thought. It is not strange, 
therefore, that when Japan was opened to the world, 
and Occidental learning and literature poured in, 
the materialism and the agnosticism of the West met 
with a sympathetic reception. 

Buddhism is the accepted faith of the great mass 
of the Japanese people. It was introduced into 
Japan from Korea, in the sixth century A. D., and 




GROUP OF PILGRIMS, AND BUDDHIST PRIESTS 



CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 253 

spread rapidly. It is now divided in Japan into 
eight sects, with various sub-sects, which bring the 
grand total up to about thirty-five. These sects 
vary, some in doctrines and others in rituals, and 
are even quite hostile to each other. The Shin sect 
deserves, perhaps, a special mention, because it op- 
poses celibacy and asceticism, does not restrict the 
diet, worships only one Buddha, and preaches salva- 
tion by faith. It is often called " the Protestantism 
of Buddhism." Buddhist temples are usually mag- 
nificent structures, and the ritual is elaborate; but, 
in spite of the assistance of Colonel Olcott, Sir 
Edwin Arnold, and others, it is fast losing ground. 
It has degenerated and become idolatry and super- 
stition. It keeps hold of the ignorant masses, and 
even of intelligent persons, chiefly because it has 
control of funeral rites and cemeteries. It has been 
said that a Japanese is a Shintoist in life and a 
Buddhist at death; and it is also true that he may 
be during life, at one and the same time, a devotee 
of both. Buddhism may suffice for a people who 
are crushed under an Oriental despotism ; but Chris- 
tianity alone is the religion of liberty and progress. 
Buddha may be " the light of Asia," but Jesus 
Christ is "the light of the world." 

Nanjo, the historian of Japanese Buddhism, has 
written a " History of the Twelve Japanese Buddhist 
Sects " ; but as some of these are now defunct, it is 
sufficient to notice here only eight principal sects, as 
follows: Tendai, Shingon, Zen, Jodo, Shin, Nichi- 



254 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

ren, Ji, Yuzu Nembutsu. Moreover, as the last two 
of these are comparatively insignificant, the mere 
mention of their names is enough, but a little more 
should be said concerning each of the other six. 

1. The Tendai sect is the oldest, but now ranks 
among the lowest. It belongs to the school which 
" sought to define truth and to find salvation in knowl- 
edge " : but as the truth was often too abstruse for 
the mass, it must be dealt out, by means of pious 
devices, according to the ability of the learner; so 
that the disciples of this sect have been called the 
Jesuits of Buddhism. 

2. To the same school belongs the Shingon sect, 
which is only a year younger than the former sect and 
now ranks third in the hst. It was founded by the 
celebrated priest Kobo Daishi ; and its doctrines also 
are quite abstruse. This is the sect which is respon- 
sible for that mixing of Shinto and Buddhism that 
prevailed for so many centuries by the adoption of 
Shinto deities into the Buddhist pantheon. These 
believers are sometimes called the Gnostics of 
Buddhism. 

3. The Zen sect represents the school which teaches 
that " abstract contemplation leads to a knowledge of 
saving truth." " Look carefully within, and there you 
will find the Buddha." This sect arose probably " out 
of a reaction against the multiplication of idols," and 
was " a return to simpler forms of worship and con- 
duct " ; therefore its disciples have been called " the 
Quakers of Japanese Buddhism." Others call them 



CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 255 

" the Japanese Quietists " or " the Japanese Mystics." 
This is now the largest Buddhist sect. 

4. A third school, teaching that salvation was to be 
obtained only through the works of another, has been 
represented by two sects, the Jodo and the Shin. The 
former, which now ranks fourth, was founded upon a 
very simple doctrine, with an easy rule of life, that is, 
the frequent repetition of the invocation Namu Amida 
Butsu, " Hail to Amida the Buddha." These Bud- 
dhists use a double rosary. 

5. The Shin sect,i which sprung out of the Jodo 
sect, is that of the Japanese Reformers or Protestants. 
In numerical strength it is second to the Zen sect, but 
in real power and influence it is facile princeps. Its 
priests are allowed to marry, and to eat flesh and fish. 
It teaches that morality is as important as faith ; or, 
in quite familiar words, that " faith without works is 
dead." It is monotheistic, as it worships only one 
Buddha. It alone of all Buddhist sects provides a 
way of salvation for women. It upholds a high 
standard of education, carries on vigorous missions 
in China and Korea, and has priests even in 
America. 

6. The sect founded by the priest Nichiren and 
named for him is not large, but very radical and 
influential. In their controversial and uncompro- 
mising attitude toward other religions or even other 
sects of Buddhism, the disciples of the " fiery Nichi- 

1 See Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vols. xiv. and xvii., 
papers on " Shinshiu " by Troup. 



256 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

ren" have been called "the Jesuits of Buddhism." 
Their invocation is Namv, Myoho Benge Kyo (Hail 
to the Doctrine of the Lotus of the Wonderful 
Law). Their doctrine is complete pantheism ; as 
Dr. Griffis expresses it, Nichiren " was destined to 
bring religion, not only down to men, but even 
down to the beasts and the mud." 

Of all these sects, the only one which has been 
appreciably influenced by contact with Western civil- 
ization and conflict with Christianity is the Shin sect. 
One type of New Buddhism tries to ally itself with 
the doctrines of scientific evolution. Another type 
has learned lessons from Christian activity in Japan, 
and is putting forth its energies in the direction of 
philanthropic and educational institutions ; so that it 
has its hospitals, magazines, schools, and, to balance 
the Young Men's Christian Association, its Young 
Men's Buddhist Association, with summer schools, 
etc. The New Buddhism will die hard. 

The influence of Buddhism upon the Japanese 
people must not be underestimated, especially be- 
cause it is still manifest, to a high degree, even in 
New Japan. Chamberlain says : ^ " All education 
was for centuries in Buddhist hands, as was the 
care of the poor and sick ; Buddhism introduced 
art, introduced medicine, moulded the folk-lore of 
the country, created its dramatic poetry, deeply in- 
fluenced politics and every sphere of social and 
intellectual activity. In a word, Buddhism was the 

1 " Things Japanese." 



CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 257 

teacher under whose instruction the Japanese nation 
grew up." Or, as Griffis outlines it,^ the Bud- 
dhist missionaries were purveyors of civilization, 
ministers of art, wielded a mighty influence in mili- 
tary and political affairs, transformed the manners 
and customs, inspired a tremendous development in 
education and literature ; but Buddhism was " kind 
to the brute and cruel to man," neglected charity 
and philanthropy, degraded woman, and left upon 
the Japanese character the blight of a merciless fatal- 
ism and an awful pessimism. ^ It created " habits of 
gentleness and courtesy " and a " spirit of hopeless 
resignation." To sum up, " in a word, Buddhism is 
law, but not gospel." 

At present. Buddhism in Japan is exceedingly cor- 
rupt, is losing its hold upon the educated, but retains 
a tremendous influence over the great mass of the 
people. The majority of the priests are ignorant, 
illiterate, and immoral, "blind leaders of the blind." 
The newspapers of the day are unsparing in their 
denunciation of the immoralities of the priesthood. 
The following is only one of many such testimonies 

1 " The Eeligions of Japan." 

2 "Emotionally its tenets do not at bottom satisfy us Occi- 
dentals, flirt with them as we may. Passivity is not our passion, 
preach it as we are prone to do each to his neighbor. Scientifi- 
cally, pessimism is foolishness, and impersonality a stage in devel- 
opment from which we are emerging, not one into which we shall 
ever relapse. As a dogma it is unfortunate, doing its devotee in 
the deeper sense no good, but it becomes positively faulty when it 
leads to practical ignoring of the naine and thine, and does other 
people harm." — Lowell. 

17 



258 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

by ex-priests : " Something that did trouble me was 
the growing conviction that Buddhism was dead, 
that it had reached the extremity of corruption. 
Strife and scandal were rife everywhere. The chief 
priests . . . were grasping after worldly place and 
prosperity. Of the immorality of the priests it makes 
me blush to speak. It is not a rare thing to see men 
with shaven heads and attired in black garments 
wandering about in prostitute quarters, or to find 
women living in temples, or to discover fish-bones 
thrown among the graves. . . . The religion has no 
rallying power left, no inner life. ... It has con- 
tributed much to our civilization in the past, but 
it is now exhausted." 

One element of the strong hold which Buddhism 
had and has upon the people, even upon the educated 
classes, is the fact that so many cemeteries have been 
and are connected with Buddhist temples. It used 
to be a frequent saying that a Japanese was a Shin- 
toist in life and a Buddhist in death ; because, though 
he may never have espoused Buddhism, he might 
be laid away in his grave according to Buddhist cere- 
monies in a Buddhist temple and a Buddliist grave- 
yard. But this control of the cemeteries seems to 
be passing out of Buddhist hands into the care of the 
local civil authorities. And this secularization, if 
it may be so called, of the graveyards not only abol- 
ishes the Buddhist monopoly, but also takes away 
from the priests the golden opportunity of extorting 
immense fees. The Buddhist control of cemeteries 



CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 259 

has often been a source of great embarrassment to 
Christians, who were frequently compelled to bury 
their dead under Buddhist auspices. But there have 
lately been cases where no objection was made to 
the burial of Christians with Christian rites in a 
Buddhist graveyard. 

This is, perhaps, the most suitable place to devote 
just a few words to those sects which are compara- 
tively modern in their origin, and are so composite in 
their doctrine that they cannot be classed under either 
Shinto or Buddhism. Indeed, they even show traces, 
though perhaps slight, of Christian teaching ; and 
they all agree in the one doctrine of faith healing. 
These are Remmon-hyo (Doctrine of the Lotus- 
Gate) ,i Kurozumi-kyo (Doctrine of Kurozumi, name 
of founder) ,2 and Tenrikyo (Doctrine of Heavenly 
Reason).^ The first and the last were founded by 
ignorant peasant women, and win adherents mostly 
among the lowest classes. The first seems more 
Buddhist than Shinto ; the second seems more Shinto 
than Buddhist; while the third is the one which 
shows most plainly traces of Christian influence. 
In Kurozumi-kyo^ the Sun-goddess is the chief object 
of devotion, because the founder was healed by wor- 
shipping the rising sun. Tenrikyo is growing rapidly, 
and is exclusive and intolerant. 

1 See papers in vol. xxix., Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, 
by Lloyd and Greene. 

2 See Gary's article in " Andover Eeview," June, 1889. 

3 See Greene's paper in vol. xxiii.. Transactions Asiatic Society 
of Japan. 



260 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The eclecticism of the Japanese in intellectual 
matters may be explained by calling attention to 
one phase of their attitude toward the three cults 
of Old Japan. There was in general a feeling of 
" with malice toward none, with charity for all " ; for 
the three, to a greater or less degree, overlapped or 
supplemented each other.^ Shinto, as we have seen, 
was only a national cult; Confucianism was a phi- 
losophy of the relations between man and man ; while 
Buddhism was a true religion, \vith ideas about sin 
and salvation. As another has summed up the scope 
of these three " ways," " Shintoism furnishes the 
object of worship, Confucianism offers the rules of 
life, and Buddhism supplies the w^ay of future salva- 
tion." It was, therefore, possible for a person to be 
a disciple of two, or even all, of these " doctrines " at 
one and the same time. He " had constantly before 
his eyes the emblems of each of these religions. In 
nearly every Samurai's house were the moral books 
of Confucius, the black lacquered wooden tablets, 
inscribed in gold with the Buddhist names of his 
ancestors, while on the god-shelf stood the idols and 
symbols of Shinto." 

Therefore there are to-day probably thousands of 
Japanese who would readily accept Christianity by 
simply adding the image of Jesus to their present 
collection, and giving it equal honor with those of 
Buddha and their ancestors. They might easily 
incorporate Jehovah in their pantheon ; but they find 

1 See Lowell's " Soul of the Far East," pp. 168, 169. 



CONFUCIANISM, BUSHIDO, BUDDHISM 261 

difficulty in appreciating the intolerance of Christians 
in having " no other gods besides " Jehovah. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The references for this chapter are in general the same as 
those for the preceding chapter, except that, in place of the 
special papers on Shinto, should be substituted special papers 
on Confucianism by Knox and Haga in Transactions Asiatic 
Society of Japan, vol. xx. pp. 1-192 ; on Buddhism, by Lloyd in 
Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xxii. pp. 337-506 ; 
and Nitobe's " Bushido, the Soul of Japan." 



CHAPTER XIX 
JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 

Outline of Topics : Mediaeval Christianity ; Modern Chris- 
tianity ; missionaries ; Japanese Christians ; Christian literature ; 
kinds and methods of work ; churches and chapels ; Sunday- 
schools ; Christian education ; Christian philanthropy ; Young Men's 
Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association ; 
temperance and the social evil ; interdenominational institutions ; 
Japonicized Christianity ; Christianity and business ; Sabbath ; 
Christianity and the press ; Christianity and Christians in politics ; 
simple Christianity ; status of Christianity. — Bibliography. 

THE great Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, 
was the one who introduced Christianity 
into Japan, in 1549; and the labors of 
himself and his successors were so faithful and suc- 
cessful, that at the beginning of the next century 
there were about 1,000,000 Christians in Japan. 
But political complications, internal and external, 
and religious jealousies, brought on a terrible perse- 
cution, in which the Church was practically extin- 
guished. In 1638 the following edict was issued: ■ — 

" So long as the sun shall continue to warm the earth, 
let no Christian be so bold as to come to Japan ; and let 
all know that the King of Spain himself, or the Chris- 
tian's God, or the great God of all, if he dare violate this 
command, shall pay for it with his head." 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 263 

And, all over the Empire, on special bulletin- 
boards, notices were published to the effect that 
this edict must be strictly enforced. ^ And yet, in 
spite of the shrewd measures employed to detect 
Christians, by compelling suspected persons, for in- 
stance, to trample on the cross or be crucified, in 
some sections the knowledge of the Gospel was 
handed down in secret from one generation to an- 
other; so that, when these edicts were removed in 
1873, to a few here and there Christianity was not a 
strange doctrine. ^ 

Just as soon as it was possible, under the treaties 
of 1858, for foreigners to reside in Japan, even under 
restrictions, missionaries began to enter (1859), and 
are now numbered by the hundreds. This count in- 
cludes both single and married men, the wives (for in 
some cases the wife is worth more than the husband), 
and single ladies. 

The work of the Greek Church has been carried 
on, until a few years ago, so far as foreigners are 
concerned, by only one man, and even now has only 
four single men connected with the mission ; but the 
remarkable personality of Bishop Nicolai and his tact 
in utilizing Japanese workers have made a profound 
impression and have neutralized the prejudice arising 
out of political animosity to Russia. 



1 " The wicked sect called Christian is strictly prohibited. Sus- 
pected persons are to be reported to the respective officials, and 
rewards will be given " (1868). 

2 See also Murray's "Story of Japan," pp. 172-179, 240-268. 



264 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The Roman Catholic missionaries, both male and 
female, have been carrying on their work with the 
usual devotion and self-sacrifice in a quiet and un- 
ostentatious manner, and are overcoming to a large 
extent the inherited prejudice against the Catholic 
Christians of Old Japan. The present workers are 
mostly French, and number more than 200 ; they are 
scattered all over the empire, even in small places. 

The principal Protestant denominations repre- 
sented by missionaries in Japan are the Baptists, 
Congregationalists, Disciples, Episcopalians, Friends, 
Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians (including Re- 
formed), Salvation Army, and Universalists. There 
are in all over thirty different Protestant organi- 
zations at work in Japan, of all sorts and shades 
of belief; and there are several Independents, or 
free lances. The Protestant missionaries represent 
High Church, Low Church, and No-Church (Ply- 
mouth Brethren et al. ) ; two regular Baptist societies 
(but only one Japanese Church), besides Disciples 
and Christians; six branches of the Presbyterian 
family, but all uniting in one Japanese Church ; six 
branches of the Methodist family, now at work, with 
good prospects for success, to effect a similar union 
of their Japanese churches; three kinds of Episco- 
palians, with one Japanese Church; Seventh-Day Ad- 
ventists; Do wie's followers; Faith Mission; Christian 
Alliance; Scandinavian Alliance; German Liberals; 
the Young Men's Christian Association ; the Women's 
Christian Temperance Union ; the Young People's So- 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 265 

ciety of Christian Endeavor ; — ■ in short, the entire 
alphabet for a complete vocabulary of Christian 
activity. And the Mormons, too, have recently sent 
emissaries to Japan. 

The missionaries have been, and are, a mighty 
force in New Japan, not merely through their 
preaching of the Gospel, but also through their 
practising of the Christian virtues; not only by 
their teaching of all-sided truth and wisdom, but 
also by their touching, their social contact with the 
people; not only by their logic, but also by their 
lives. They are vivid and impressive object-lessons 
of the ideal Christian life, — " living epistles, known 
and read of all men." They are, in general, well- 
educated men and women, a noble company, re- 
spected and loved by the Japanese. 

The Japanese Christians are not strong numeri- 
cally; but they exercise an influence entirely out of 
proportion to their mere numbers. There are less 
than 150,000 nominal Christians of all kinds, who 
may represent a Christian community of, perhaps, 
twice that number. But, in spite of their faults 
and failings, due to the fact that they are less than 
fifty years removed from anti-Christian influences 
of the worst types, and are still surrounded by vari- 
ous hindrances, 1 they are also a noble body of men 
and women, loved and honored by fellow-Japanese 
and foreigners. 

The Christian literature of Japan is truly volumi- 

1 See Uchimura's " Diary of a Japanese Convert." 



266 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

nous, and is an important factor in moulding and ele- 
vating public opinion. The Bible has been translated 
into the Japanese language, and is widely circulated ; 
it is published in many forms by the Bible societies. 
Until a few years ago, it was almost impossible to 
induce a non-Christian bookseller to keep the Bible 
on hand; for its presence in his store might preju- 
dice him in the eyes of the public, and, besides, it 
was not easily salable. But such prejudice has 
died away, and a demand for the Bible has sprung 
up, so that it has become to the book-dealer a profit- 
able article of his stock. Commentaries on the books 
of the Bible and theological treatises are numerous, 
and tracts are counted by the millions.^ Christian 
magazines and books are published and obtain cir- 
culation. The Methodist Publishing House and 
several Japanese companies find the publication of 
Christian literature a profitable venture. There are 
daily newspapers, owned and edited by Christians, 
who use their columns to teach Christian ideals. And 
in 1902 was issued a popular novel, called " Ichi jiku " 
(The Fig Tree), which is Christian in tone and 
teaching. 

The work of foreign missionaries and native Chris- 
tians in Japan may be divided into four kinds : evan- 
gelistic, educational, publication, and philanthropic. 
It is, however, very difficult and extremely unwise 
to attempt always to make and to maintain these dis- 
tinctions ; for these classes of work often overlap and 

1 There is now a " Japan Tract Society." 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 267 

supplement each other. The work, as a whole, is 
carried on much as it is in the West, except that the 
measures and methods must be more or less adapted 
to the peculiar conditions in Japan. ^ Thus Chris- 
tianity is represented there by certain institutions, 
which, according to various circumstances, are flour- 
ishing in a greater or less degree in different locali- 
ties, but which, as a whole, are exerting a tremendous 
influence upon the nation and are creating the ideals 
for Twentieth Century Japan. 

There are hundreds of churches and chapels, but 
they are seldom indicated by spires and steeples point- 
ing upward as signs of the doctrine which leads man- 
kind onward and upward. For that reason they are 
not generally discovered hj the "globe-trotter," who 
tries to do Japan in a month or less, and is not usually 
looking for such things, but yet goes back to report 
Christianity a failure in Japan. Nevertheless, the 
churches and chapels are there, ~ perhaps in out-of- 
the-way places, on narrow side-streets, or even on 
the principal thoroughfares, and they may be only 
ordinary Japanese houses; but the work is going 
on there, quietly and unostentatiously. There is also 
a " gospel ship " (Fukuin Maru), cruising about the 
long-neglected islands of the Inland Sea. 

1 It is unfortunate that there are any missionaries, with more 
zeal than knowledge, who seem to forget those wise words of Paul, 
the courageous, but tactful, and therefore successful, preacher, in 
1 Corinthians ix. 22. But most of the missionaries, or the best of 
them, always bear in mind Christ's own instructions in Matthew 
X. 16. 



268 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

In the churches and chapels, or in other build- 
ings, or even in the private houses of foreigners 
and Japanese, are about 1, 000 Sunday-schools, where 
the children are being instructed in the simplest truths 
of the Bible. They may not understand at once much 
of what they hear; but they gradually come to better 
and better ideas, and when they reach years of un- 
derstanding, many of them fully accept the truths 
learned in Sunday-school.^ 

But the duty of the Christian propagandist is not 
completed by the conversion of unbelievers ; it extends 
also to the training of these converts into a useful 
body of Christian citizens. It is unwise to rely en- 
tirely upon public education by a system so well 
organized even as that of Japan. If private schools 
under Christian auspices are useful in America, they 
are an absolute necessity in Japan. It is dangerous 
to leave Christian boys and girls under the irreligious 
and often immoral influences of public institutions. 
As "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," 
it is supremely important to keep Christian Japanese 
youth under positive Christian instruction and in- 
fluences during that impressible period. And it is 
also necessary to train up a strong body of Christian 



^ It is no small matter for encouragement to Christian workers 
in Japan that it is now possible to find among Japanese Christians 
three generations of believers ; so that the words of Paul in 2 Tim- 
othy i. 5 may be applied here : " Having been reminded of the un- 
feigned faith that is in thee ; which dwelt first in thy grandmother 
Lois and thy mother Eunice." The future of Christianity in Japan 
is insured when it begins to be inherited. 




GOSPEL SHIP "FUKUm MAEU," AND Y.M.C.A. SUMMER SCHOOL, 
DOSHISHA. KYOTO 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 269 

pastors and laymen, who shall be the leaders in the 
self-supporting Japanese church that is the goal of 
all missionary effort. Therefore the work of Chris- 
tianity in Japan includes a system of education, with 
kindergartens and elementary schools, academies and 
colleges, universities and theological seminaries, and 
with a strong emphasis on the education and train- 
ing of the girls and women. ^ 

But Christianity in Japan is also philanthropic, as 
it should be, and therein exposes clearly what Bud- 
dhism left undone. The latter was, as has already 
been said, proportionately "kind to the brute and 
cruel to man " ; for it allowed humanity to suffer 
while it regarded animals as "sacred." Christianity, 
however, has not only its Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Animals, but also its " Homes," asylums, 
hospitals, refuges, — for the poor, the neglected, the 
widow, the fatherless, the sick, the insane, the out- 
cast, the Magdalene, and the worst criminal. All 
such institutions it is carrying on in Japan; and 
most of them never existed there until Christians 
introduced them or Christian teaching inspired them. 
This may be predicated even of the Red Cross So- 
ciety; for although the branch in Japan was first 
organized as an independent association, yet the very 
fact that the need of such a society was felt was due 
largely to Christian influence. Revenge and "no 
quarter " were the doctrines of Old Japan ; but 
New Japan, aroused by the example of Christian 

1 See "An American Missionary in Japan," pp. 259-262. 



270 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

nations, and inspired by the teachings of the Bible, 
now heartily supports the Red Cross Society, a Chris- 
tian institution with a distinctively Christian banner. 

When the forces that have made for true civiliza- 
tion and for righteousness are figured out, it will be 
found that the work of the Young Men's Christian 
Association has been a very important factor. In 
Japan, as elsewhere, that work is unusually success- 
ful in gaining sympathy and forming a common plat- 
form on which all Christians may unite in valuable 
work. It has there both city and student associa- 
tions, of which the latter are more numerous and 
powerful, but the former are increasing in number 
and influence. The work there is varied, as in 
other lands, and is constantly broadening out. The 
visits of Mr. John R, Mott have been peculiarly ben- 
eficial to the student class. In two special phases the 
work of the Young Men's Christian Association in 
Japan has been most helpful, — in the establishment 
of Christian boarding-houses for young men in pub- 
lic schools, and in securing for public high schools 
and colleges Christian young men from America as 
teachers of English. And it is a matter of great re- 
joicing to all interested in the welfare of the girls in 
the public schools, and shops and factories, ^ of the 
large cities of Japan that Young Women's Christian 
Association work is to be started. 

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and 

1 There are said to be 17,530 women employed in the factories 
and workshops of Tokyd alone. 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 271 

other Christian temperance organizations are fight- 
ing the same battles in Japan as in America. The 
old religions never made any attempt to check the 
tobacco, liquor, and social evils; they seemed to as- 
sume such to be inevitable. Even now the leadership 
in these social and moral reforms is almost solely in 
the hands of Christians. By their untiring efforts 
the public sentiment against these evils is rapidly 
growing, and various organizations, by public meet- 
ings and pages of literature, are trying to lift the 
people out of these "habits." A bill prohibiting the 
sale of tobacco to minors was made a law by the Diet, 
and one prohibiting the sale of liquor to minors is 
being pushed. By the indefatigable labors of a 
Methodist missionary, the Women's Christian Tem- 
perance Union, and the Salvation Army, some 12,000 
girls have been enabled to free themselves from their 
slavery in the brothels ; some of these wicked resorts 
had to close up ; and public sentiment was so vehe- 
mently aroused against this evil that the number of 
visitors to houses of ill-fame considerably decreased. ^ 
And it is Christian teaching that has disestablished 
concubinage and is constantly working to purify the 
family life of Japan. 

The Young People's Society of Christian En- 
deavor, the Scripture Union, and the Evangelical 
Alliance are other examples of interdenominational 
institutions which are doing much to minimize sec- 
tarianism and remind Japanese Christians that, in 

1 See Appendix. 



272 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

spite of minor differences, they ought to be and are 
really "one." 

Indeed, the Japanese converts are naturally much 
less sectarian than the missionaries, and can change 
their denominational affiliations without difficulty. 
The Japanese Protestants are coming nearer and 
nearer together by minimizing their differences and 
emphasizing their correspondences. For instance, 
the innate courtesy of Japanese Baptists makes 
them loath to insist on " close communion " ; while 
with the Presbyterians and other Pedobaptists, "in- 
fant baptism " is unpopular. The Methodists, in 
their plan for a single church of all their branches, 
had to choose an ambiguous term for the title, instead 
of "Bishop," of their chief official. The Friends 
cannot emphasize their anti-military doctrine among 
a people liable to conscription; and though High- 
Church Episcopal missionaries may be exclusive, 
their Japanese believers enjoy co-operation with other 
Christians. There will eventually be developed a 
" Japonicized Christianity." 

Christianity has already made an impression upon 
the commercial life of New Japan. The tremendous 
development of industry, trade, and commerce has 
required new business standards, and especially 
does it demand honesty and integrity. It is not 
infrequent, therefore, for companies and corpora- 
tions to seek out young men trained in Christian 
schools, because they are most likely to be actuated 
by high ideals. The Sabbath, too, although Sunday 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 273 

is more a holiday than a holy day, is also proving to 
be a boon in business and labor circles, and is coming 
gradually to be observed more strictly. Christian 
socialism, too, is not without its influence in 
Japan. 

There are a few Japanese newspapers which are 
owned, managed, and edited by Christians, and are 
working, in their way, to uphold Christian institu- 
tions. They are also striving to introduce into 
Japanese journalism higher ideals. There is a still 
larger number of papers, whose managers and editors, 
though not professedly Christian, favor Christianity, 
especially in its social and moral aspects, and have, 
for instance, given a hearty support to the crusade 
against the social evil. The influence of Christianity 
may also be seen in the elevation of the tone of the 
Japanese press. 

The impress of Christianity has also been felt 
even in the political institutions of New Japan. 
The principle of constitutionalism found no encour- 
agement in the philosophy of Old Japan, but is the 
fruit of Christian civilization. The doctrine of re- 
ligious liberty, acknowledged in the Constitution, is 
of Christian origin. The old idea of impersonality, 
which recognized no value in the individual, but 
called him or her a " thing, " could not live long after 
the Christian teachings of individual worth, rights, 
and responsibility, and personal salvation became 
prevalent. These points illustrate some indirect, 
but important, results of Christianity in Japan. 



274 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

There are also influential Christian men in public 
life. Every Diet contains a disproportionately large 
number of Christians, who may be counted upon on 
every occasion to stand up for right principles, and 
most of whom are very influential. Speaker Kataoka 
and Messrs. Ebara, Shimada, and Nemoto may be 
named merely as examples of Japanese Christian 
men in politics. In army and navy circles, on the 
bench and at the bar, in business, and in many 
other high positions, Christian men are among the 
most prominent, and are found even in "Cassar's 
household." 

Christianity is bound to become a greater power in 
Japan, but it will be a Christianity modified by native 
ideas and influences. It is the tendency of the Jap- 
anese less to originate than to imitate; to adopt, but 
also to adapt and to simplify. They are not inclined 
to metaphysical and theological discussions, and they 
care little for Occidental and accidental denomi- 
nations differentiated by hair-splitting distinctions 
embodied in verbose creeds. They are, therefore, 
desirous of uniting Japanese believers upon a simple 
statement of the fundamental and essential truths of 
Christianity. They need less of dogmas and rituals, 
and more of the spirit of Christ in their lives. The 
people are superstitious and sensual, and need intel- 
lectual and moral training. Superstition can be dissi- 
pated by science, and sensuality can be conquered 
only by spirituality. The great mass of the people 
are still sunk in comparative ignorance and supersti- 



JAPANESE CHRISTENDOM 275 

tion, but are gradually being elevated by the spread 
of knowledge. But the Japanese public-school edu- 
cation is one-sided and imperfect, without a lofty and 
inspiring standard of morality. Christian education 
supplies all needs by developing a well-rounded and 
balanced intellect, and furnishing the highest and 
purest ideals of life. Theology is not wanted or 
needed in Japan so much as a practical and spirit- 
ual Christianity. 

The condition of Christianity in Japan at the 
present time is quite like that of Christianity in 
the Roman Empire in the days of Constantine, who, 
himself a nominal Christian, " established " Christian- 
ity as the official faith of his empire. And yet, as 
Uhlhorn says,^ "the ancient religion was still deeply 
rooted in the manners and customs, in the domestic 
and the public life." And this situation Uhlhorn 
represents by the following illustration : — 

" In this new city on the Bosphorus, Constantine set 
up a colossal statue of himself. It was an ancient statue 
of Apollo. Its head was struck off and a head of Con- 
stantine was substituted. Also, inside the statue was 
placed a piece of what was supposed to be the holy cross. 
This is a kind of mirror of the age. A heathen body 
with a Christian head and Christian life at the heart." 

This is a fair illustration of the condition of affairs 
in Japan at the beginning of the twentieth century. 
There is a heathen body, for the great mass of the 
Japanese (many millions) still cling to the old faiths, 
1 " Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism." 



276 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

But there is a Christian head, because the leaders of 
New Japan are favorable to Christianity and its in- 
stitutions, and are reconstructing the nation largely 
on Christian lines and with Christian ideals. And 
there is Christian life at the heart, for it is that life, 
as shown in the preceding pages, which is inspiring 
Japan with new ideas and ideals. And when we 
take into consideration how much Christianity has 
done for Japan in less than fifty years, we feel quite 
warranted in prophesying that within this twentieth 
century Japan will become practically a Christian 
nation. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Those specially interested should not fail to consult " The 
Gist of Japan " (Peery) ; " An American Missionary in Japan " 
(Gordon) ; " Japan and its Regeneration " (Gary) ; •' The 
Religions of Japan," " Verbeck of Japan," and "A Maker 
of the New Orient " (all by GrifRs). The " Proceedings" of 
the Osaka and the T5ky6 Missionary Conferences, and Ritter's 
" History of Protestant Missions in Japan " are very valuable. 
"From Far Formosa" (Mackay) tells of wonderful pioneer 
work there. For current news, the " Japan Evangelist," a 
monthly magazine published by the Methodist Publishing 
House, Takyo, is the best. 



CHAPTER XX 
TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN 

Outline of Topics : Japan in 1801 and 1901 ; eras ; Emperor 
and Court; Shdgun. — Sealed and wide-open Japan. — Travel and 
barriers. — Social changes. — Samurai. — Ideals of 1801 and 1901. 

— Costume. — Architecture. — Diet. — Education. — Newspapers. 

— Manufactures. — Status of woman. — Christianity. — Permanent 
transformations. — Prophecy. 

IN order to understand as clearly as possible the 
progress made by New Japan during the past 
fifty years, it will be profitable to institute some 
comparisons between conditions then and now. As 
a matter of fact the greater part of this wonderful 
advancement was achieved during the last third of 
the nineteenth century ; but it suits our purpose better 
to compare 1801 and 1901, the first years of the two 
centuries. Thus can we appreciate fully with how 
much difference in conditions and prospects Japan 
has entered upon the twentieth century than she en- 
tered upon the nineteenth century. 

By the Japanese calendar, the year 1801 was the 
first of the Kyowa Era, a short and uneventful period ; 
but the year 1901 was the thirty-fourth of the Meiji 
Era, or Period of Enlightened Rule, — a most ap- 
propriate name for the first era of the New Empire. 



278 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The Emperor in 1801 had been known before his 
ascension of the throne as Prince Kanin Kanehito 
(from whom the present Prince Kanin has descended) ; 
but he is now known by his posthumous title of 
Kokaku. He is said to have been " a sovereign of 
great sagacity " ; but he was, as we know, only a 
nominal ruler, like the faineant kings of France, 
while the actual authority was held, and the real 
power was exercised, by a Mayor of the Palace, a 
Shogun of the Tokugawa family. The Emperor was 
" powerless and lived in splendid poverty." 

The Imperial Court was organized in Kyoto " with 
all pomp and circumstance ; it had its Ministers, 
Vice-Ministers, and subordinate officials; it had its 
five principal, as well as more than a hundred ordi- 
nary. Court nobles; but the sovereign's actual power 
did not extend beyond the direction of matters re- 
lating to rank and etiquette, the classification of 
shrine-keepers, priests and priestesses, and profes- 
sionals of various kinds, — in a word, actual functions 
of no material importance whatever." In an absolute 
empire Kokaku was Emperor in name and fame only. 

" He was practically confined in sacred seclusion ; 
his person must neither touch the earth nor be polluted 
by contact with common mortals. The most scrupu- 
lous care was exercised about his dress, food, even 
the very dishes themselves ; he was, to the common 
people, a real invisible deity. It is reported that the 
Emperors of the olden days must sit motionless upon 
the throne for a certain number of hours each day, in 



TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN 279 

order that the empire might have peace. Their per- 
sons were sacred, so that nobody was permitted to lay 
hands thereon ; therefore their hair and nails might 
have grown to an unseemly length, had they not been 
clandestinely trimmed during sleeping hours. The 
dishes from which they had partaken of food were 
forthwith dashed in pieces, in order that nobody else 
might ever use them. And the very rice that they 
ate was picked over kernel by kernel, in order that no 
broken or imperfect grain might find lodgment in the 
Imperial stomach." It is also said that no one was 
allowed to speak the name of the Emperor or to 
write in full the characters of his name ; in the latter 
case, for clearness, at least one stroke must be 
omitted from each character. 

But the present Emperor, whose name is Mutsuhito, 
is an entirely different personage. He does not live 
in seclusion, but frequently shows himself in public 
to his subjects, who can now look upon his face with- 
out fear of being smitten with death. He is, none 
the less, revered and loved by all the people, and is 
the real ruler of the land. He has, however, volun- 
tarily surrendered to the people some of his preroga- 
tives, so that the Japanese to-day enjoy constitutional 
government, parliamentary and representative in- 
stitutions, and local self-government. And in 1901 the 
Empire, instead of being divided up, as in 1801, into 
about 300 feudal fiefs, in each of which a Daimyo was 
more or less a law unto himself, is divided into 
about 50 Prefectures, Imperial Cities and Territo- 



280 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

lies, in each of which the people have more or less a 
. voice in the administration. 

The Empress, too, although she was brought up 
and educated in the old-fashioned way, has yet 
adopted modern ideas with great ease. She does not 
have shaven eyebrows and blackened teeth, like her 
predecessor of 1801. She often appears in public, 
and is a generous patron of female education, the 
Red Cross Society, and artistic and philanthropic 
enterprises. 

The Shogun of 1801 was lyenari, who exercised 
that authority for about half a century. He lived in 
glory and splendor in Yedo (now Toky5) with his 
vassals around him. Theoretically he was only 
Generalissimo under the Emperor, and, as a matter 
of policy, kept up the practice of occasional visits to 
Ky5to, where he humbled himself before his nominal 
superior; but, as the highest administrative officer, 
he was ruler in act and fact. Very appropriately 
has he been called " the Emperor's vassal jailer." 
During his Shogunate " the mihtary class remained 
perfectly tranquil, and the feudal system attained 
its highest stage of efficiency." 

In 1901 there was no Shogun ; the last of the Toku- 
gawa dynasty abdicated in 1867, and has spent most 
of his life since then in retirement in Mito and 
Shizuoka. He is now living quietly in Tokyo, with- 
out much regard, apparently, to the new-fangled ways 
of these times, except that he is reported to ride a 
bicycle ! 



TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN 281 

In 1801 Japan was still a sealed country, but not 
hermetically, because there was one chink at Nagasaki, 
where occasional intercourse was allowed with the 
Chinese and the Dutch. Not only were foreigners 
forbidden to enter, but natives were also forbidden to 
leave, this "holy land." Already, however, efforts 
were being made spasmodically to break down the 
policy of seclusion, with its two phases of exclusion 
and inclusion. 

In 1901, however, thousands of foreigners of many 
nationalities travelled and resided in Japan ; and thou- 
sands of Japanese were travelling and residing in many 
parts of the globe. Foreign vessels, flying many dif- 
ferent flags, freely entered the harbors of Japan ; and 
Japanese ships conducted freight and passenger ser- 
vices to Asia, Australasia, America, and Europe. 
The figures of the small amount of the foreign 
trade of Nagasaki in 1801 are not at hand; but the 
exports and imports of Japan for 1901 amounted re- 
spectively to 252,349,543 yen and 255,816,645 yen. 

A Japanese of 1801 would have travelled, if he 
were one of the common people, by foot, and, if he 
were of sufficient rank or wealth, by norimono, or 
kago, or on horseback. The Japanese of 1901 might 
continue to travel by foot, and, in mountainous dis- 
tricts, might still use the Ttago ; but' they might also 
travel by jinrihisTia, horse-car, stage, steam-car, steam- 
boat, horse and carriage, electric car, and bicycle. 
The letter of 1801 was despatched by courier or re- 
lays of couriers; that of 1901 by mail, and com- 



282 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

munication by telegraph and telephone was becoming 
more and more common. There were over 3,600 
miles of railway, 9,500 miles of telegraph, and, in 
Tokyo alone, over 6,000 telephones. An electric rail- 
waj'- was actually disturbing and desecrating the hal- 
lowed precincts of Kyoto, once sacred to the Emperor. 
And even His Majesty's Palace in Tokyo had been 
put into telephonic and telegraphic communication 
with the rest of the city and even of the world. 

Nor was travel throughout the empire itself free and 
unimpeded to all in 1801. The country was split up 
into feudal fiefs, of which each lord was intensely 
jealous of other lords and had to act on the defensive. 
Every traveller was under considerable surveillance, 
and had to be able to give a strict account of himself; 
and many " barriers " were erected where travellers 
were challenged by guards. The large places where 
the lords lived were walled towns, entered by gates 
carefully guarded by sentinels. In Kyoto and Yedo 
the palaces of the Emperor and the Shogun were 
protected by moats and gateway. But in 1901 those 
historic castles and gateways had mostly crumbled 
into ruins or been destroyed in war, or demolished 
by the hands of coolies working under the direction 
of the Board of Public Works or the Bureau of Street 
Improvements. 

We cannot refrain from referring more particularly 
to the great change that has been effected in the 
whole constitution of Japanese society. In 1801, 
below the Court nobles and the feudal lords, there 



TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN 283 

were four classes of society, — the knight, the farmer, 
the mechanic, and the merchant, besides the outcasts. 
In 1901, below the nobility, there were only two 
classes, — the gentry and the common people ; and 
the distinction between these two is one of name 
only. In official records and on certain occasions 
the registration of the nominal rank is necessarj^; 
but in actual life few questions are asked about a 
man's standing, and merit finds its reward. 

In 1801 the samurai (knight) was the heaii ideal 
of the Japanese. His courage was unimpeachable; 
he was the model, not only of a warrior, but also of 
a gentleman, and before him the common people 
had to bow their heads to the ground. But now the 
sword which was his " soul" is a curio, the bow and 
arrows are also curiosities, and the panoply either 
hangs rusty in a storehouse or is offered for sale by 
a dealer in second-hand goods. The samurai is now 
only an historical character; and when feudalism 
was abolished, many an individual of that class fell 
into a pauper's grave, or, forced into unaccustomed 
manual labor, learned the culinary art, and entered 
service in the despised foreigner's kitchen ! 

Indeed, although the soldier is still highly honored, 
and deeds worthy of the best of the old samurai are 
still performed,^ the merchant, formerly despised be- 
cause he bartered for profit, has risen in esteem and 
become one of the most important factors in Japanese 
society and civilization. The age of 1801 was feudal 
1 See " Heroic Japan" (Eastlake and Yamada). 



284 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

and sesthetic ; the age of 1901, democratic and com- 
mercial. In 1801, the swords ; in 1901, the sorohan 
(abacus) : in 1801, the castle ; in 1901, the counting- 
house : in 1801, husJii (knights) ; in 1901 budgets. 

In 1801 the Japanese wore nothing but their own 
national costume, with strictly prescribed uniforms 
for every occasion. In hot weather a scarcity or 
utter lack of clothing was the prevailing style. In 
1901 the latter style, though no longer conventional, 
prevailed under certain limitations, — when and where 
the police were not strict constructionists of the law 1 
And in 1901 there was a great variety of styles, rang- 
ing from pure native to pure foreign, with all kinds 
of fits and misfits and ludicrous combinations. 

Japanese houses of 1801 and 1901 show some 
differences. The native style has been more or less 
modified by foreign architecture. Glass, of course, is 
largely taking the place of paper for doors and win- 
dows; carpeted floors are often preferred to matted 
floors ; stoves, chairs, tables, lamps, and bedsteads 
are coming more and more into use ; and brick and 
stone are more largely employed in the construction 
of residences, offices, and stores. 

The diet of the Japanese has also changed con- 
siderably within 100 years. Whereas in 1801 they 
were practically vegetarians, in 1901 they had learned 
to eat and drink anything and everything. Foreign 
cooking had become very popular and also cheap ; in 
many Japanese families foreign food was eaten at 
least once a day. 



TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN 285 

A Japanese student of 1801 was compelled to study 
at niglit by the dull light of a pith wick floating in 
vegetable oil, or by the fitful flame of fifty fireflies 
imprisoned in a small bamboo cage. The student of 
1901 burned midnight oil from Russia or America, 
or studied by the aid of gas or electric light. The 
studies in 1801 were confined to Japanese and Chinese 
classics. It was considered practically a crime to seek 
learning outside of Japan and China, but in 1901 the 
studies included the whole range of Oriental and Oc- 
cidental learning ; and one school in Tokyo tried to 
attract students by assuming the name " School of 
One Hundred Branches." And while in 1801 Dutch 
books were read only by a very select few, and mostly 
in secret at the risk of one's life, in 1901 it was pos- 
sible to find readers of Dutch, English, French, Ger- 
man, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, 
Sanskrit, and other books. In 1801 education was 
practically confined to the priestly and military 
classes, but in 1901 there were no such limitations, 
and elementary education was made free. 

In 1801 there were no newspapers in Japan; in 
1901 papers and magazines galore, printed in almost 
all parts of the empire. Indeed, in 1801, books 
were either copied laboriously by hand or printed 
from wood-cuts ; but in 1901 all the modern improve- 
ments in printing were utilized. Moreover, fonts of 
type of many languages might be found ; and in fact, 
anything needed in the printing line could be manu- 
factured at the Tsukiji Type Foundry, Tokyo. 



286 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

The mention of this foundry suggests also the 
immense number of manufacturing plants that were 
to be found in Japan in 1901 against none in 1801. 
Cotton, woollen, and paper mills, iron foundries, 
electrical apparatus manufactories, engine works, 
steamships, docks are only a few examples of the 
development along this line. And in Tokyo the 
grounds which in 1801 were entirely devoted to 
the sesthetic gardens of the Prince of Mito are now 
partially given over to the practical but sooty pur- 
poses of an arsenal. 

There is a great difference also between the Jap- 
anese woman of 1801 and her descendant of 1901. 
The former had practically no rights that her hus- 
band was bound to respect ; she must be respectfully 
obedient to her husband and his parents, and she 
could be divorced at will. But, according to the new 
codes which went into effect in 1899, "a woman 
can now become the head of a family and exercise 
authority as such ; she can inherit and own property 
and manage it herself; she can exercise parental 
authority; she can act as guardian or executor and 
has a voice in family councils." Thus her legal and 
social status has greatly improved. 

In 1801 Christianity was under the ban of a strict 
prohibition, publicly advertised on the official bulletin- 
boards ; and although believers in secret were trans- 
mitting the faith which had been secretly handed 
down to them, it was supposed that "the corrupt 
sect " had been wiped out. But in 1901 there were 



TWENTIETH CENTURY JAPAN 287 

more than 120,000 enrolled believers, who represented 
a Christian community of about twice that num- 
ber. Christian preachers and churches were all over 
the empire, and a Gospel ship was cruising about 
in the Inland Sea. According to the Constitution, 
religious belief is free ; so that Christianity was be- 
coming more and more a power in the land and wield- 
ing in society an influence that cannot be measured. 
And in 1901 Japanese troops, in alliance with those 
of nations of Christendom, had rescued Christian 
missionaries and Chinese converts from the fury of 
mobs and soldiery, and Christian missionaries, driven 
out of China, had found safe and comfortable places 
of refuge in Japan. 

Such comparisons might be carried out with regard 
to many other items and in greater detail ; but these 
will, perhaps, suffice as illustrations of the extent to 
which Japan was transformed during the nineteenth 
century. In some points, of course, especially in 
modem inventions, there has been no greater change 
than in Occidental nations during the same period. 
But it should be carefully borne in mind that these 
transformations, in geographical, agricultural, mineral, 
industrial, commercial, manufacturing, social, eco- 
nomic, political, legal, educational, moral, and religious 
affairs, so far as they have gone, are not temporary 
or superficial, but permanent and thorough ; there is 
to be no retrogression. Japan has deliberately and 
firmly started out, not only to march along with the 
other so-called civilized nations, but also to contribute 



288 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

toward further progress in civilization. The only- 
question is, What will be the record of Twentieth 
Century Japan? 

The full answer to this question we must pass 
on to the man who one hundred years hence may 
write on "Japan in 1901 and 2001." But though 
we do not lay claim to any special gift of prophecy, 
we venture to indulge in some general predictions 
which no one, to-day at least, can challenge. We 
feel sure, for instance, that Twentieth Century Japan 
wiU keep apace with the progress of the world in 
material civilization. We doubt not that during this 
century the Japanese people, becoming better fitted, 
will gradually be admitted to a greater share in the 
administration of the government, local and national. 
We feel quite certain that the social conditions of 
Japan will be greatly ameliorated, and education be- 
come very widely diffused, so that an immense 
intellectual improvement will be attained during the 
next hundred years. We also dare to predict that 
by. 2001 Shinto will have entirely disappeared as a 
religion, Buddhism will have lost its hold upon the 
people, and Japan will have become practically a 
Christian nation. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE MISSION OF JAPAN 

Outline of Topics : Aims and ambitions of Japan. — Grand 
park. — Commercial centre. — Advantageous position. — Leader in 
civilization. — Example of civilized nation. — Transmitter of "West- 
ern civilization. — Japan and Korea. — Japan and China. — Fuchow, 
Yangtse Valley, and Manchuria. — Japanese leaders of Chinese. — 
Dr. Hirth on China and Japan. — Japanese invasion of China. — 
Siam and Japan. — The United States a Pacific Power. — A com- 
plete Anglo-Japanese Alliance. — Russia and Japan. — Two streams 
of civilization. — New Japan egotistic. — Prospects of Japan. — 
Confidence in Japan. 

IT is now appropriate to inquire what is appar- 
ently the mission of Japan in the world. Since 
even much less powerful nations have played 
most important parts on the stage of the world's 
history, it is simply inconceivable that Japan should 
have attained in so brief a period such an eminent 
position as a world-power without having some special 
mission to perform and some contribution to make to 
the sum total of what is called civilization. And in 
considering this topic of the mission of Japan, it may 
be well to ascertain what are the aims and aspirations 
of the Japanese, because it is usually along these lines 
that a nation, as well as an individual, achieves suc- 
cess. Let us then permit Japanese themselves to 
answer largely our queries concerning the rdle which 
19 



290 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

is to be theirs " in the great world-drama that con- 
tinues unendingly, like a Chinese play, in the Far 
East." And the opinions which are now to be pre- 
sented, even though the individuals themselves are 
not, in every case, the most prominent personages 
that might have been selected, nevertheless fairly 
represent Japanese public opinion. 

One ^ says : " Japan is especially favored by nature 
with beauty and picturesqueness of scenery and a 
healthful climate, and has been appropriately called 
the ' Paradise of the East. ' We shall turn this 
country into a grand park of the nations, and draw 
pleasure-seekers from all parts of the world. We 
shall build magnificent hotels and establish excel- 
lent clubs, in most splendid style, to receive the 
royal visitors of Europe and the millionaires of 
America." And while the objection has been raised 
that this is not "a very lofty role for Japan," it is 
claimed that "it is seen to be about the rdle that 
France, the great nation of artists, is content to play 
in Europe — making herself infinitely beautiful and 
infinitely charming. " And certainly to minister ar- 
tistically to the enjoyment of residents and visitors 
by making the country as pleasant and delightful 
as possible is an aim that accords well with the 
naturally aesthetic tastes of the Japanese people. 
Therefore, concerning success in this endeavor there 
cannot be the slightest doubt. 

That role is not, however, purely aesthetic, be- 

1 Mr. K. Takahashi, President of the Bank of Japan. 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN 291 

cause it contemplates the mercenary advantages to 
be reaped from the expected throngs of pleasure - 
seekers, and is, therefore, also practical. And the 
same person makes another suggestion, wholly prac- 
tical and pecuniary, as follows : — 

"Japan is geographically situated in an advantageous 
position, as at the centre of the world's commercial 
routes. China will be the future market of the world, 
and Japan will receive the mercantile vessels fitted to 
be despatched to all parts of the earth. Japan should 
provide herself with extensive docks at the various 
ports of the island on the route of the mercantile 
vessels, to give them shelter and, if needed, necessary 
repairs and cleaning, and eventually supply fuel and 
water." 

We have already referred, in the closing para- 
graphs of the first chapter, to the physiographical 
advantages of Japan, but we are impelled to dwell 
more at length on the subject. Another Japanese ^ 
has emphasized the point with the following sug- 
gestions : — 

" To all appearances, the seas about Japan and China 
will be the future theatre of the Far East. The Phil- 
ippines have been reduced to a province of the United 
States. China, separated from us only by a very narrow 
strip of water, is offering every promise of becoming 
a great resource open to the world of the twentieth 
century. The Siberia railway has been opened to traffic ; 
and the construction of a canal across Central America 

1 Rear-Admiral Kimotsuki in the " Taiy5 " (Sun). See also chap, 
xiij. ot "Japan in Transition " (Ransome). 



292 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

is expected to be fiuislied before long. ... As for 
fuel, our supply of coal from the mines of Hokkaido 
and Kyushiu is so abundant that the surplus not re- 
quired for our own consumption is exported largely 
into various parts of the East, where no productive 
coal mines have been found except a very few ones of 
poor quality. . . . 

" Taking all these [things] into account, it is not too 
much to say that the future situation of Japan will be 
that of a central station of various water passages, — a 
situation most conducive to the good of our country; 
and that, numerous as the attractive places of his- 
torical interest and natural beauty are, it is chiefly 
from our excellently advantageous position, a connect- 
ing link common to the three chains of water passage 
to and from Europe, America, and Asia, that we shall 
be able to obtain the largest share of the riches of the 
nations of the world." 

With reference to the success of Japan in such a 
purpose as this, there can be very little doubt; for 
the natural advantages are so great that they require 
comparatively little improvement. 

But, besides this aim of commercial prosperity, 
there is a higher ambition. One writer ^ says: — 

"Japan's mission at this juncture would be to act 
as the leader to the Asiatic countries in introducing 
modern civilization : China and Korea, for instance, 
can learn about civilization much faster and easier 
than from the countries in Europe and America, for 
they have common systems of letters and to a certain 
extent of ideas." 

1 Editorial in the "Taiyo" (Sun). 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN 293 

Prof. K. Ukita^ makes the following suggestion: 

" It is the mission of Japan to set up an example of 
a civilized and independent national state for her Asiatic 
neighbors, and then to make a confederation of all the 
Asiatic nations on the basis of international law; just 
as it is the mission of the United States of America 
to form one vast pan- American Union of all the re- 
publics of the new hemisphere, and thus to hasten on 
the progress toward the organization of the whole 
world." 

Again we quote from the editor of the " Taiyo " 
(Sun), as follows: — 

" It is our duty to transmit the essence of Occidental 
civilization to our neighbors, as better success may 
be realized by so doing than by introducing there the 
new institutions directly from the West. The present 
state of things in China does not allow her to appreciate 
fully the ideas of Westerners, more so because their 
fundamental conception of morals is at variance with 
that of Occidentals. But Japan has every facility to 
win the confidence of China, in consideration of its 
geographical situation and of its literary affinity. The 
valor, discipline, and order of our army have already 
gained the confidence and respect of the Chinese, and 
it now remains for us to guide them to higher pos- 
sibilities with enlightened thoughts and ideas. Such 
a work cannot be accomplished in a day ; it will require 
years of perseverance and toil." 

Now, it may be profitable to ascertain to what ex- 
tent Japan is fulfilling her self-appointed but natural 

1 Formerly of the Doshisba. From the " Taiy5." 



294 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

mission to uplift her neighbors and kindred in Eastern 
Asia. In Korea, for instance, what is the scope of 
Japanese influence? In that peninsula there are 
about 16,000 Japanese, by whom almost all the im- 
portant enterprises of the country are managed. Of 
the foreign trade of Korea, by far the largest per cent 
of both exports and imports is in connection with 
Japan; while the trade of Russia with Korea is posi- 
tively insignificant.^ The principal articles of export 
to Japan are agricultural products, while the imports 
from Japan are chiefly manufactured goods. At every 
open port of Korea there is a Japanese post and tele- 
graph office, through which alone can communication 
be had with foreign countries. As Korea is almost 
wholly destitute of shipping, her coasting trade is 
chiefly carried on by Japanese vessels, . which also 
furnish almost all the means of trade and travel 
abroad. In railways, too, the Japanese have largest 
control; and their banks are strong and prosperous. 
Fisheries and mining likewise furnish employment 
for Japanese, who also carry on numerous miscel- 
laneous business enterprises. 

When we pass on to China, we find most astonish- 
ing results, a full treatment of which would require 
a volume, so that we must be content with a few 
typical examples. In Fuchow, for instance, in the 
six years since a Japanese consul first landed there, 
the number of Japanese residents has increased from 
8 to 70, and the number of Formosan natives, now 

1 For important statistics, see Appendix. 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN 295 

naturalized Japanese, who are staying there, is more 
than 160. The Osaka Shosen Kwaisha^ has a branch 
office in Fuchow; and the Formosan Bank has sent 
there a special commissioner. In Amoy also, on ac- 
count of its proximity to Formosa, Japanese influence 
is growing. 

The great increase of Japanese enterprise on the 
Yangtse River during recent years deserves a para- 
graph by itself. There are several Japanese lines of 
steamers, besides special vessels for the coal and iron 
trade. " Side by side with this development of car- 
rying facilities many Japanese, in the capacity of 
merchants. Government employes or projectors, may 
be seen travelling in the Yangtse Valley ; and further 
the number of persons engaged in the translation of 
Japanese books into Chinese has increased in an ex- 
traordinary degree. . . . Nothing is more remarkable 
than the popularity enjoyed by Japanese things and 
Japanese subjects." 

In view of the complications with Russia, it is 
well to call attention to the fact that Northern China, 
especially Manchuria, is most important to Japan 
from the commercial point of view. The trade with 
Niuchwang alone is from 10,000,000 to 13,000,000 
yen per year, and that with all Manchuria amounts 
to about 20,000,000 yen annually. It is perfectly 
natural, therefore, that Japan should object to con- 
tinued Russian occupation, from which she has al- 
ready suffered by direct and indirect interference, 

1 Osaka Merchant Steamship Company. 



296 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

and that she should demand a fair field with " open 
doors." 

From such instances, of which more might be 
cited, it is apparent that Japan is doing her duty 
in the way of helping China to the benefits of ma- 
terial civilization. But her influence is being ex- 
erted for good on higher planes. For, as the editor 
of the " Japan Mail " observes, " every Japanese sub- 
ject employed in China in whatever capacity will be 
a centre for diffusing the light of liberalism"; and 
"the Chinese are apparently to be led along their 
new path by the Japanese," who "have some degree 
of distant kinship with the Chinese." 

The words of Dr. Hirth will add weight because 
he is, perhaps, the most eminent Chinese scholar in 
the country and holds the professorship of Chinese in 
Columbia University, New York City. He spoke as 
follows : ^ — 

" No capable observer of events in China since the 
Imperial Court returned to Peking can doubt that the 
government has decided to adopt the policy of Japan, 
which is to take the methods of western civilization 
for their models. In directing the new movement in 
China, Japan is taking the lead over other foreign 
nations, and this, it is asserted, is due to her superior 
command of the language. 

" Moreover, every educated Japanese is imbued with 
the ideas prevalent in Chinese literature, religious and 
political, and hence he has a different standing in the 

1 "The Political and Commercial Reasons for the Study of 
Chinese." 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN 297 

eyes of the Chinese from that of Americans and Euro- 
peans. China has thus placed the work of educating 
the rising generation in the hands of the Japanese as 
being less likely to destroy the old knowledge while 
familiarizing the students with the advantages of the 
new. 

" A National University has been established by the 
Emperor at Peking, which it is calculated will be the 
model for educational institutions all over the country. 
Recently a Japanese professor has been selected to draft 
a new code of laws for the empire. The reason why a 
Japanese was selected for this work in preference to an 
equally learned German, American, or Englishman, is 
because men who are both willing and capable of making 
due allowance for traditional prejudices will never arise 
from a country where the study of Chinese institutions is 
so much in its infancy as with all of us, except Japan." 

The present peaceable invasion of China by Jap- 
anese, "not this time with guns for weapons, but 
with ideas and educational influences," is along these 
seven lines : ^ — 

" 1. The Agricultural College, established some years 
ago at Wuchang by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, and 
managed for some time by an expert American, has now 
been given over to Japanese management. 

"2. The military school in Hangchau is taught wholly 
by Japanese. 

"3. A large amount of translation work is done by 
the Japanese. 

"4. Many Chinese students have been sent by Chang 
Chih-tung during recent years to be educated in Japanese 
schools for Chinese government service. 

1 " Chinese Kecorder." See also Appendix. 



298 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

" 5. More than one large and influential Chinese news- 
paper is owned and edited by Japanese, one of which is 
an especially strong advocate of closer union between the 
two great nations of the East. 

" 6. Nearly 100 Japanese students are in attendance 
at school in Shanghai, studying Chinese and English with 
a view to positions of usefulness in China. 

" 7. A large and increasing number of translation socie- 
ties are being organized in Shanghai, the principal object 
of which is to get into circulation books on Western 
learning. The significant fact is that the large majority 
of them are translated from the Japanese rather than 
European languages, because, as they say, the Japanese 
have already selected the best, and they wish to- profit 
by their experience. Books on Political Economy, 
General Science, Agriculture, Pedagogics, Ancient and 
Current History are now commonly on sale in Chinese 
bookstores, most of which are advertised as having been 
adapted from the Japanese." 

There is yet another country which is feeling the 
influence of Japan; and that is Siam. No doubt 
much of this increased interest in " things Japanese " 
may be attributed to the recent visit of the Siamese 
Crown Prince to Japan. He is having a Japanese 
building constructed for himself ; and the king is to 
have a Japanese garden and house added to the 
grounds of his palace. The trade between Japan and 
Siam is not yet very extensive ;i but it is capable 
of considerable expansion. Siamese boys and girls 
have begun to resort to Japan for educational advan- 

1 Japan exports chiefly matches, lamps, and coal, and imports 
principally rice and cotton-seed. 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN 299 

tages; so that, in more senses than one, Japan is 
coming to be the teacher and leader of Siam. 

But there is another phase of the Far Eastern 
situation that demands close attention. The United 
States has definite and direct interests of several 
kinds in Japan, Korea, China, and Siam; and she 
must maintain these at all hazards. Through the 
possession of Hawaii, Guam, and particularly the 
Philippines, she has become a Pacific Power, more 
than ever concerned, and directly, in Oriental poli- 
tics. The advent of the United States into that field 
was hailed with joy by the Japanese, who have the 
utmost confidence in our international policy. 

In view of the fact, therefore, that the United 
States, by virtue of providential necessity, must 
be reckoned as a factor in Oriental politics, and 
cannot herself ignore such responsibilities, there is 
only one course open, only one policy to be pur- 
sued. It is most clearly our duty as a nation (pas- 
sively, if possible, but actively, if necessary) to 
support the Anglo- Japanese Alliance in its efforts 
in behalf of the nations of Eastern Asia. The union 
of the greatest nations of Europe, America, and Asia 
in a complete Anglo-Japanese Alliance would make 
a "triple alliance" practically invincible. 

There are two rival interests contending for mas- 
tery on the other shore of the Pacific Ocean, — Russia 
and Japan. Toward the former we must feel grati- 
tude for her attitude toward us when our Union was 
in utmost peril; but that sentiment is overbalanced 



300 A HANDBOOK OP MODEEN JAPAl^ 

by other considerations. Toward the latter we have 
an imperative duty, as toward a protege^ because it 
was America who started Japan on her present career 
and must acknowledge the responsibility to assist her 
in every laudable purpose. And certainly her aims 
in the Far East coincide with ours and with the 
dictates of civilization. The supremacy of Japan 
in Eastern Asia means far more for America and 
American institutions than does the domination of 
Russia. Japan to-day enjoys rights unknown in 
Russia: social freedom, political privileges, repre- 
sentative institutions, local self-government, intel- 
lectual liberty, freedom of assembly and of the 
press, and religious liberty. Japan is already far 
in advance of Russia and, in many respects abreast 
of Germany, in civilization. And, as "Japan holds 
the key of the Far Eastern position," she is our 
natural ally. Dai Nippon hanzai — " Long live Great 
Japan." 

But let us now revert again to the Japanese writer 
quoted near the close of the first chapter. With a 
reminder of the ever westward course of empire, he 
pens a paragraph so bold and suggestive that it is 
worth transcribing : ^ — 

" Two streams of civilization flowed in opposite direc- 
tions when mankind descended from their primitive homes 
on the table-land of Iran or America. That towards the 
west passed through Babylon, Phoenicia, Greece, Rome, 
Germany, England, and culminated in America, while 

1 Uchimura's "Japan and the Japanese." 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN 301 

that through the east travelled through India, Thibet, 
and China, culminating in the Manchoo Court of Peking. 
The moral world is also a magnet with its two opposite 
poles on the opposite banks of the Pacific, the demo- 
cratic, aggressive, inductive America, and the imperial, 
conservative, and deductive China. There have been con- 
stant attempts for the union of these magnetic currents. 
. . . Grander tasks await the young Japan, who has the 
best of Europe and the best of Asia at her command. 
At her touch the circuit is completed, and the healthy 
fluid shall overflow the earth ! " 

In fact, it seems not improbable that the nation 
which, having from ancient times imbibed and assim- 
ilated the elements of Oriental civilization, has been 
swallowing and digesting Occidental civilization, may- 
produce a new and strong tissue. It is, therefore, 
argued with no little force that "to reconcile the 
East with the West : to be the advocate of the East, 
and the harbinger of the West : this we believe to 
be the mission which Japan is called upon to fulfil." 

To most persons, undoubtedly, this conception of 
the future of Japan appears to be teeming with na- 
tional vanity. And, indeed, it cannot be denied that 
New Japan is extremely egotistic. She views with 
evident self-gratulation the astonishing progress she 
has made, and believes herself capable of even more 
wonderful transformations. And surely, when we 
contemplate the history of the past fifty years, and 
consider the remarkable facility with which Japan has 
metamorphosed herself, we need not wonder that she 
is confident or even boastful. To those conversant 



302 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN" 

with this people, their capabilities, and possibilities, 
the above forecast of Japan's future seems to photo- 
graph, with some exaggerations, the natural and not 
altogether improper self-confidence and reliance of an 
able, growing, and independent nation, which has 
shown an inexplicable power of assimilating the 
various and diverse elements of civilization. Even 
a foreigner has so much confidence in the grand 
future of Japan that he expressed himself in the 
" Atlantic Monthly " (June, 1892) in the following 
strong language : — 

" In bringing to pass the fusion of eastern and western 
types, which , , . shall create in both hemispheres a 
far more rounded civilization than either has ever known, 
Japan has the inestimable privilege of becoming our 
most alert pioneer. Through her temperament, her in- 
dividuality, her deeper insight into the secrets of the 
East, her ready divining of the powers of the West, . . . 
it may be decreed in the secret council chambers of des- 
tiny that on her shores shall be first created that new 
latter-day type of civilized man which shall prevail 
throughout the world for the next thousand years," 

But while we may not, perhaps, be fully warranted 
in such sanguine expectations, we cannot help being 
impressed with the fact that the prospects of Japan 
are unusually bright. She slept for 250 years while 
the Occident was moving rapidly onward in the path 
of civilization, and she must now hasten to catch up. 
But she can avoid the pitfalls into which the others, 
now and then, here and there, have fallen, and by 
which they have been delayed. She can profit by 



THE MISSION OF JAPAN" 303 

the mistakes, by the costly experiences, of those 
who preceded her along the rough road. She must 
move quickly to make up for lost time, but not too 
rapidly; she must "make haste slowly." She can 
never go back, except to ruin and death. She has 
stepped into the path of progress forever. She must 
discard all things, whether manners, customs, letters, 
political forms, superstitions, moulds of thought, or 
anything else which tends to retard her onward move- 
ments. But it is sincerely to be hoped that even the 
demands of modern progress will allow her to retain 
much of that grace and charm, of that quaint sim- 
plicity, of that light-hearted and merry nature, all of 
which characterize the Japanese. 

We believe in Japan. We are confident that she 
has powers, both patent and latent, which will enable 
her to achieve still greater successes than she has 
yet accomplished. We have had our "blue spells," 
when, for this or that reason, we felt discouraged 
over the apparent failure of some movement 'for re- 
form; but in most instances we have eventually 
seen success crown the effort. With reference to 
political affairs F. V. Dickins has well expressed it: 
"There is a silent strength underlying the sound 
and fury of Japanese politics which will enable the 
country to weather much worse storms than any that 
threaten it."^ Therefore we reiterate that we have 
confidence in the future of Japan and the Japanese. 
We repeat that their achievements up to date are a 

1 " Life of Sir Harry Parkes." 



304 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

guarantee of continued success in the future. We 
dare prophesy that they will yet display wonderful 
transformations in their development. We feel per- 
fectly warranted in applying Vergil's line, — 

Hos successus alit ; possunt, quia posse videntur, 

which Conington translates into two verses, — 

" These bring success their zeal to fan, 
They can because they think they can." 



APPENDIX 



T 



APPENDIX 

Provinces and Pkefbctures 

HE following list gives in detail the divisions 
of Japan into Provinces (Ku7ii), according to 
'' Circuits": — 



Go-Kinai (Five Home Provinces). Yamashiro, Yamato, 
Kawachi, Izumi (or Senshiu), Settsu (or Sesshiu). 

Tokaido (Eastern Sea Eoad). Iga, Ise, Shima, Owari, 
Mikawa, Totomi, Suruga, Kai, Izu, Sagami, Musashi, 
Awa (or Boshiu), Kazusa, Shimosa, Hitachi. 

Tosando (Eastern Mountain Road). Omi, Mino, Hida, 
Shinano (or Shinshiu), Kozuke (or Joshiu), Shimozuke, 
Iwaki, Iwashiro, Eikuzen, Rikuchu, Mutsu, Uzen, 
Ugo. 

Hokurikudo (North Land Road). Wakasa, Echizen, 

Kaga, Noto, Etchu, Echigo, Sado Island. 
Sanindo (Mountain Shade Road). Tamba, Tango, 
Tajima, Inaba, Hoki, Izumo, Iwami, Oki Islands. 

Sanyodo (Mountain Sunlight Road). Harima (or Ban- 
shiu), Mimasaka, Bizen, Bitchu, Bingo, Aki, Suwo, 
Nagata (or Choshiu). 

Nankaidd (Southern Sea Eoad). Kii (or Kishiu), Awaji 
Island, Awa, Sanuki, lyo, Tosa (or Toshiu), of which 
the last four are in the island of Shikoku. 

Saikaidd (Western Sea Eoad). Chikuzen, Chikugo, 
Buzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hyuga, Osumi, Satsuma 
(or Sasshiu), Iki Island, Tsushima Island, of Avhich 
all except the last two are on the island of Kyushiu. 



308 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



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APPENDIX 309 

Hokkaido (Northern Sea Road). Oshiraa, Shiribeshi, 
Iburi, Ishikari, Hitaka, Tokachi, Teshiwo, Kushiro, 
Nemuro, Kitami (all on the island of Yezo), and Chi- 
shima, or the Kurile Islands. 
Byukyu (Loo Choo) Islands, This group constitvited 
one, the 85th, Kuni. 

The following is the list of Japanese Prefectures {Ken 
and Fu) : — 

The Fu number three : Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. 

The Ken number forty-three : Kanagawa, Saitama, 
Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gumma, Nagano, Yamanashi, 
Shizuoka, Aichi, Miye, Gifu, Shiga, Fukui, Ishikawa, 
Toyama, Niigata, Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, 
Akita, Iwate, Aomori, Nara, Wakayama, Hyogo, 
Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tottori, 
Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kochi, Nagasaki, Saga, 
Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and 
Okinawa (Eyukyu Islands). 

Hokkaido and Formosa are at present administered as 
" territories " by the Imperial Government, although 
the former has recently been granted a small measure of 
local self-government. 

Tables of Japanese Monet, Weight, anb 
Measure ^ 

Length (Sashi). Japanese Weights and Measures. 
As the use of the Japanese weights and measures is 
becoming more and more frequent in reports and books 
from the Far East, the following tables will be found 
useful to all persons who wish to ascertain the equiva- 
lents of the Japanese terms in similar terms in use in 
the United States and in England : — 

' 1 From " Japan and America." 



310 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



LONG MEASURE (SASHI) 

1 Mo (0.0001 Shaku) 0.000099 foot. 

1 Ein (10 Mo) 0.00099 foot. 

1 Bu {10 Bin) 1.4317 lines. 

1 Sun {10 Bu) 1.1931 inches. 

1 Shaku (10 Sun} 11.9305 inches. 

1 Ken (6 Shaku) 1.9884 yards. 

1 Jo (10 Shaku) 3.3140 yards. 

ICho (60 Ken) 5.4229 chains (1-15 m.). 

1 Ei (36 Cho) 2.4403 miles (2i m.). 

1 Kai-Ri (Marine Ri) 1.1507 miles. 

DRY GOODS MEASURE {KUJIRA-JAKU) 

1 Sun (0.1 Shaku) 1.4913 inches. 

1 Shaku (10 Sun) 14.9130 inches. 

1 Tan (about) 11 yards. 

1 HiH (about) 22 yards. 

WEIGHT {HAKARI) 

1 M5 0.000008 pound (avoirdupois). 

1 Bin (10 MS) 0.000083 pound 

1 Fun (10 Rin) 5.7972 grains 

1 Momme (10 Fun) 2.12 drams 

1 Kin (160 Momme) 1.3251 pounds 

1 Kwan (1,000 Momme) 8.2817 pounds 

CAPACITY (MASU) 

1 Shaku (10 Sai) 0.00397 gallon. 

1 Go {10 Shaku) 1.2706 gills; 0.0199 peck. 

1 Sho {10 Go) 1.5881 quarts; 0.1985 peck. 

1 To {10 Sho) 3.9703 gallons; 1.0951 pecks. 

1 Koku {10 To) 39.7033 gallons ; 4.9629 bushels. 

SUPERFICIAL MEASURE {TANBETSU) 

1 Square Shaku about 1 square foot. 

1 Tsubo (36 Square Shaku) 3.9538 square yards. 

1 Se (30 Tsubo) about 119 square yards. 

1 Tan {10 Se) 0.2451 acre. 

1 Cho (10 Tan) 2.4507 acres. 

1 Square Ki 5.9552 square miles. 

MONEY 

lyen $0.4935 

Isen one-half cent. 




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Sh n u a To Ts and 



OIFIGIAL MAP 

OF THE 



EMPIRE_OF JAPAN 

SX GRAND DIVISIONS OF TERRITORY 

SXAXISTICAL TABLES. 



APPENDIX 311 

Money, Weight, and Measure of Various Countries 
in Terms of those of Japanese 

MONEY 

English pound (20 shillings) 9.763 yen. 

Shilling (12 pennies) 0.4881 

Penny (4 farthings) 0.0407 

Hong Kong dollar ' . 0.949 

American dollar (100 cents) 2.006 

Cent 0.02 

German mark 0.478 

French franc 0.387 

Chinese tael 1.298 

Manila dollar 0.985 

Mexican dollar 0.965 

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LENGTH 

Mile (1,460 yards) licho and 49 ken. 

Yard (3 feet) 3 shaku. 

Foot (12 inches) 1 shaku. 

Inch 8 6m and 4 rin. 

GERMAN, FRENCH, AUSTRIAN, AND ITALIAN LENGTH 

Metre 3 shaku and 3 sun. 

Centimetre (1-100 metre) 3 6« and 3 rin. 

Millimetre (1-1000 metre) •.. 3 rin and 3 ot6. 

ENGLISH CAPACITY 

Gallon (liquid) 2 sho, 5 g6, and 2 shaku. 

Bushel (wheat) 2 to and 1 go. 

AMERICAN CAPACITY 

Gallon (liquid) 2 shd and 1 go. 

Bushel (wheat) 1 <o, 9 sho, and 5 go. 



Weight 
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN (HEAVYWEIGHTS) 

Ton (20 hundredweight, or 2,240 pounds) about 270 kwan and 946 momme. 

Short ton (2,000 pounds) 241 kwan and 916 momme. 

Hundredweight (112 pounds) 13 kwan and 547 momme. 

Pound (16 ounces) 121 momme. 

Ounce about 8 momme. 



312 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



LIGHT WEIGHT 

Pound . 99 momme and 5 bu. 

Ounce 8 momme and 3 bu. 

Grain 1 7-in and 7 mo. 

Area 

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH 
Acre o itan and 24 ho. 

Arable Land in Japan ^ 

The "Nichi Nichi Shimbun" argues that the real 
question for the Japanese to consider is development of 
agriculture, not a paltry lightening of the fiscal burden 
now imposed on agriculturists. When the area of cul- 
tivated land in the various countries of the world is 
compared with the total areas of those countries, start- 
ling figures result. 

Batio of Area of Cultivated Land to Total Area of 
Country 

Belgium 53.9 Austria 36.7 

Prussia 50.3 Spain 35.7 

France 50.2 Holland 27.3 

Germany 43.4 England 



Denmark 42.5 Portugal 24.9 

Italj^ 39.9 European Russia . . . 16.4 

Hungarj' 37.7 Japan 13.8 

Japanese habitually plead that their extraordinarily low 
place on this list is the result, not of want of industry, 
but of natural obstacles, much of the surface of their 
islands consisting of mountains and hills which cannot 
be made arable. The " Nichi Nichi " alleges that such 
an excuse is merely partial, and that a little energy and 
resolution would soon change the situation. At any 
rate, the opposition offered by politicians to the present 
1 From the " Japan Mail." 



APPENDIX 313 

land tax is not in the genuine interests of agriculture, 
but in the interests of political popularity. 

Mr. Megata, an official of the Finance Department and 
an expert statistician, has figured out that in 1901 more 
than 15,000,000 acres were in cultivation. 

The actual yield of rice for 1902 has now been definitely 
ascertained, and is indicated in the following table : — 

Tear. Yield in JCoku. 

1893 37,267,418 

1894 41,859,047 

1895 39,960,798 

1896 36,240,351 

1897 33,039,290 

1898 47,387,666 

1899 39,698,258 

1900 41,466,734 

1901 46,914,943 

1902 36,999,348 

Average year 40,856,217 

The figure for the average year is obtained by taking 
the seven-year period 189o-1901 and omitting the 
exceptional years, 1898 and 1897. 



Fruit-Gkowing in Japan 



Fruits originally cultivated, and probably native in 
Japan, include the orange, pear, peach, sour plum, 
almond, grape, persimmon, loquat, pomegranate, ginko 
or salisburia, and fig. The miTcan, or Japanese sweet 
orange, is smaller, sweeter, and less juicy than the 
oranges raised in America, and the thin membrane sepa- 
rating the sections of the fruit is tougher ; it has a very 
pleasant flavor, and is much used for food by both natives 
and foreigners. It is cultivated all through the warmer 
regions of Japan, and is the most plentiful of the fruits 
raised there, being found in the markets from early 
autumn until late the following spring. The persimmon 

1 From a Keport by U. S. Consul-General Bellows, Yokohama. 



314 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

comes next to the orange in the number produced, and 
is a favorite with the natives, but its season is com- 
paratively short. It closely resembles the persimmon 
of America's Southern States. The sour plum is ex- 
tensively cultivated and yields a good crop, but the other 
fruits named above, though more or less widely grown, 
are produced in much smaller quantities — the fig being 
most abundant and most valued of the less important 
fruits. The government has introduced peaches, pears, 
and grapes from Europe and America, and has found 
the soil and climate well adapted to their production, so 
that these are now cultivated in addition to the native 
varieties of the same fruits. Of the fruits wholly un- 
known in Japan until introduced from abroad, the 
apple has proved most successful, and it has become a 
chief product of some districts in the Hokkaido, or 
northern island. The apples are of fine appearance 
and excellent flavor, and the trees yield a profit very 
encouraging to the cultivator, so that the area of their 
production is being increased. The natives eat fruit 
chiefly fresh, and its use as a table diet is not general, 
although increasing. The processes of drying and can- 
ning fruits are beginning to come into use, but only as 
a means of preserving the fruit for home consumption, 
not for export. 

Factories in Japan ^ 





No. OF 
Factories. 


Aggregate 
Horse Power. 


No. OF Factories 

WITHOUT Motor 

Power. 


1894 


2,409 


41,031 


3,756 


1895 


2,758 


61,252 


4,396 


1896 


3,037 


64,429 


4,603 


1897 


2,910 


63,434 


4,377 


1898 


2,964 


79,016 


4,131 


1899 


2,305 


76,885 


4,394 


1900 


2.388 


95,392 


4,896 



1 From the " Japan Times." 



APPENDIX 



315 



Factories with Motor Power 



No. OF 
Factories. 



Horse Power. 



No. of 
Opbeativbs. 



Silk reeling 

Cotton and silk spinning 
Ships, machines, etc. . . , 

Weaving 

Cement 

Printing 

Paper-mills 



1,046 
1,722 

117 
112 

155 
198 
25 
56 

251 
37 



9,362 
6,631 
12,523 
20,463 
2,577 
4,190 

3,005 
2,596 
1,099 
1,825 



531 

3,097 
3,398 



112,887 1 
102,071 

56,417 
80,107 
16,654 
18,131 
7,924 
9,588 
2,712 
3,554 
3,233 
5,224 
1,761 



Factories without Motor Power 




1 The first figures in each group represent the end of 1896, 
and the second figures the end of 1900. 



316 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



Cleartng-Houses of Japan 

The following table shows the development of the 
clearing-business in Japan : — 



First Half- Year 


Total of Checks and Bills Cleared. 


OF 


Tokyo. 

Yen. 


Osaka. 

Yen. 


1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 
1903 


70,000,000 
78,500,100 
131,600,000 
184,800,000 
250,300,000 
383,400,000 
433,800,000 
675,400,000 
565,000,000 
614,700,000 
756,100,000 


31,300,000 
32,600,000 
34,500,000 
65,700,000 
72,200,000 
97,300,000 
161,600,000 
255,500,000 
263,700,000 
298,700,000 
395,900,000 



Ship-Building in Japan ^ 

Recent orders which have been placed in the hands of 
the Nagasaki Dockyard and Engine Works and the 
Kawasaki Dockyard Company, Limited, by the Nippon 
Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Sbosen Kaisha, serve to 
remind the resident of the rapid development of the 
ship-building industry in this country, while at the same 
time affording evidence of the growth of the country's 
mercantile marine. The order placed with the first- 
named yard is for four large steamers of 6,000, 5,400, 
2,500, and 1,900 tons, respectively, the largest vessels 
being intended for the Japan Mail Steamship Company's 
European and Australian lines. Nor is the Osaka 
Shosen Kaisha in a different position. This enterpris- 
ing company also has found it necessary to order new 
vessels, and has found it economical to order them in 
1 From a Report by U. S. Consul Lyon, Kobe. 



APPENDIX 317 

Japan instead of from abroad. The fact is worthy of 
note, for it is the first time in the history of the country 
that orders for eight ocean-going steamers have been in 
hand at one time. This may, we trust, be held to 
indicate that the shipping and ship-building industries 
are in a healthy and prosperous state. 

The contrast between the condition of the local ship- 
building trade now and that of a few years back is a 
striking one. Perhaps the first real impetus given to 
private ship-building here was due to the enterprise of 
the late Mr. E. C. Kirby, at whose yard at Onohama — 
the plant of which was subsequently removed to Kure 
— one large cruiser and several smaller gunboats and 
steamers were successfully launched. Since then, the 
yards at Kawasaki, Osaka, Ishikawajima, Uraga, and 
Nagasaki have taken up the work vigorously, and demon- 
strated beyond possibility of cavil their ability to turn 
out ocean-going craft, and large river steamers of the 
highest standard. With the productions of Osaka and 
Kobe ship-building establishments trading regularly on 
the Yangtze, and 6,000-tou liners from the Nagasaki 
Shipbuilding Engine Works, making record voyages 
between Seattle and the Orient, and others running 
regularly between home ports and London, there is no 
longer room for surprise in viewing Japan-built steamers. 
There is no doubt that with the opening up of additional 
lines in the China and Japan seas, sufficient work for 
local ship-builders will be forthcoming for some years to 
come, and it is therefore unlikely that they will enter 
into serious competition in the near future with ship- 
building yards in Shanghai, Hongkong, and Singapore. 
The home demand seems likely to engage their activities 
for some years yet, though the presence of a 700-ton 
steamer for the Shanghai customs on the stocks at 
Kawasaki may be held to belie the prediction. . . . Al- 
though Japanese ship-builders may have quite enough to 



318 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

do in the near future to meet the home demand, a young 
rival has entered the lists against the great ship-building 
concerns of the West ; and this in itself is no small 
credit to the nation, which is already able to plume itself 
upon having accomplished more in a generation than any 
other people in Asia or in the South Seas, and as much, 
relatively, as the American and English peoples whose 
homes are on the Pacific slope. 

The Osaka Exhibition ^ 

Considering that only thirty years ago Japan had no 
such institution as a factory, and knew nothing what- 
ever of iron foundries or machine shops, the Japanese- 
made machinery display at the exhibition at Osaka is 
astonishing. There we find silk- weaving and mat-mak- 
ing machines, electrical motors and generators, gas and 
oil engines, locomotives, electrical fittings, tools, belt- 
ings, match-making machine, lemonade-making machine, 
distilling machine, fire-brigade appliances, rice-cleaning 
machines, huge steam navvy, oil tanks, soap-making 
machines, printing machines, massive hoisting engine, 
tea-refining machinery, heavy mining machinery, and 
many other smaller machines, all of Japanese manu- 
facture, admirably made, and well adapted to the 
purposes designed. 

In general manufactures the empire makes a good 
showing in certain lines. Straw braid, in all conceivable 
styles and uses; shibori, a beautiful dyed stuff, making 
pretty dress material; woollen serges and woven silks, 
particularly a delicate fabric of mixed silk and cotton 
(the output of this fabric already totals f 1,500,000 per 
annum) ; cheap and good cotton blankets, Japanese towels, 
artistic designs in tiles and roofing materials, drainpipes, 
fireproof bricks. In drinkables, also of home manu- 

1 From "Japan and America," by Walter J. Ballard. 



APPENDIX 319 

facture, there is beer by the carload; sake, the famous 
native drink, enough to quench the thirst of an army. 

One of the best exhibits is in clocks ; some of them 
very handsome and very cheap, made by one or other of 
the twelve Japanese clock companies. The porcelain 
exhibition is good, consisting of beautiful vases, artistic 
porcelain trays, basins, teacups, etc. The exhibit of 
Japanese-made shoes is quite creditable. Other native 
manufactures exhibited are bamboo furniture, whatnots, 
over-mantels, fire screens, shell buttons, paper lanterns, 
fine silken rugs, shawls, paper, camphor, oils, soap, all 
kinds of sauces and relishes, silks of every hue and de- 
scription, silk lace, gold and silver thread, linen, duck, 
tent cloths, ivory work, bronzes, lacquer and silver work, 
surgical instruments, pianos, organs, and other musical 
instruments, bicycles, gymnastic and athletic goods, 
microscopes, cameras, barometers, and almost every kind 
of educational apparatus. 

The natural products of the country are exhibited to 
good advantage. Rice, tobacco (manufactured and 
unmanufactured), silkworms, various varieties of silk 
cocoons, tea, huge oranges, sugar, furs, woods, pearls, 
coral, fish (dried and salted). Mushrooms are a special 
exhibit of one prefecture, tea of another, and so on. The 
whole section of the agricultural experiment station is 
complete and admirable in every way. 

In the foreign section we find weaving-machines (only 
introduced last October, and already largely sold), 
German shoe-making and cigarette-making machines, 
and searchlights from Nuremberg, match and matchbox- 
making machines, rifles, wire samples, chemicals, per- 
fumes, British-made electrical appliances, timber, paints, 
varnishes, gas and oil engines, steam-engines (British), 
a turbo-alternator (electric) from Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
rubber and steel goods from England, Maxim's famous 
guns, fountain pens, typewriters, Indian cotton, Ameri- 



320 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

can bone goods, American motor cars and bicycles, meat 
extracts, American provisions, American lighting and 
heating apparatus for railway carriages and street cars, 
refrigerator cars, Boston pile-sinking outfits, New York 
pumps, marine gasolene engine, and sewing-machines. 

Canada also makes a good exhibit of the cereals and 
food products of the Dominion, with the Canadian system 
of cold storage, and of pulp woods, furniture, and iron 
work. 

Cost of Living in Japan 

How Laborers Live 

The following tables are from " The Labor World " 
for July 1, 1898, The editor sent a form to be filled 
out by the laborers themselves, to get accurate statistics 
of their lives and work. A few samples throw light 
upon the inner life of Japanese laborers : — 

No. 1. — House, two rooms ; a family, — man (30), wife (23), mother (53), 
two sisters (14 and 11); occupation, blacksmith. 

Working days in a month 26 

Working hours in a day 12 

Daily wages $0.52 

Monthly income 13.83 

Monthly expenses 13.65 

House rent, one month 0.96 

Rice 5.76 

Fuel and light 1.08 

Vegetables 0.87 

Fish 0.96 

Sake (rice beer) 0.24 

Soy (Japanese sauce) 0.73 

Tobacco 0.20 

Hair cutting and dressing 0.83 

Bath , . 0.88 

Pin money 0.25 

Sundries 0.89 

No. 55. — House, two rooms, with kitchen; a family, — man (27), wife 
(25), boy (6), girl (2) ; business, iron worker. 

Daily wages $0.25 

Overtime income for one month 1.50 

Monthly income 8.28 



APPENDIX 321 

Monthly expense 9.44 

House rent 0.75 

Eice 3.25 

Fuel and light 0.41 

Vegetables 0.60 

Fish 0.60 

Soy and tniso 0.23 

Tobacco 0.25 

Hair cutting and dressing 0.18 

Bath 0.20 

Pin money 0.60 

Sundries, including interest on debt 2.37 

Increase in Living Expense 

The following interesting comparison between the 
cost of living in 1889 and 1899 is from " The Miyako " : 

(Calculated monthly expenditure of a family of six members — a mar- 
ried couple, a parent, two children, and one servant — living with strict 
economy.) 

1889. 1899. 

yen. yen. 

House rent (a house containing the furnished rooms of 6, 

4i, and 2 mats, respectively 2.50 5.00 

Cleaned rice (at the rate of 2 sho per day) 4.50 7.00 

{\ioSsho (8sho5gS 

■per yen.) -gev yen) 

Soy 0.45 0.75 

Salt and 7niso (including 1^ ^o of salt and some miso) . 0.40 0.70 

Oils (3 sho of kerosene and 5 go of vegetable oil) . . . 0.45 0.69 

Sugar 0.60 0.90 

Milk (1 go per day) 0.90 1.10 

Newspaper (only 1) 0.25 0.35 

School expenses (for 2 children) 0.80 0.90 

StationerA"- expenditure (for the children) 0.60 0.90 

Hair dres'sing 0.34 0.69 

Price of bath (every other day for the family) . . . . 0.90 1.50 

Vegetables 0.90 1.50 

Fish food (9 messes for the family) 1.08 1.80 

Beef (6 messes for the family, about § of 1 pound . . 0.60 1.20 

Tsukudani and other auxiliary foods (6 messes) . . . 0.24 0.42 

Tea 0.40 0.50 

Fuel 1.00 1.80 

Total 17.21 28.20 

Security money for rent 7.00 15.00 

These include necessaries, but if other petty expenses 
are taken into calculation, a family of 6 members as 
21 



822 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



mentioned above will require a monthly income of at 
least 35 yen on which to maintain themselves decently. 



Wages of Japanese Workmen 

Following is an official table of the wages of day 
laborers of the whole empire for the year 1900 : — 



Occupations. Average. 

Carpenter $0,270 

Plasterer 0.270 

Stonemason 0.365 

Sawyer 0.265 

Roofer 0.255 

Tile-roofer 0.295 

Brickmason 0.315 

Floor-mat maker .... 0.235 

Furniture maker .... 0.265 

Paper-hanger 0.250 

Joiner 0.250 

Tub-maker 0.225 

Wooden clogmaker . . . 0.200 

Shoemaker 0.235 

Saddler 0.235 

Cartwright 0.235 

Tailor for Japanese clothes 0.195 

Tailor for foreign clothes . 0.280 
Maker of cloth bags, cases, 

etc 0.220 

Dyer 0.145 

Cotton-carder 0.185 

Blacksmith 0.240 



Occupations. Avbraob. 

Maker of fancy goods . . $0,210 

Founder 0.235 

Pulley-driver 0.190 

Lacquer-ware maker . . 0.235 , 

Lacquer-sap gatherer . . 0.380 

Oil-presser 0.180 

Paper-maker 0.160 

Tobacco-cutter .... 0.215 

Compositor 0.175 

Pressman 0.170 

Ship-carpenter .... 0.280 

Gardener 0.260 

Peasant (male) .... 0.150 

Peasant (female) .... 0.095 

Sericulturist (male) . . . 0.165 

Sericulturist (female) . . 0.095 

Silk-spinner (female) . . 0.100 

Weaver (male) .... 0.165 

Weaver (female) . . . . 0.100 

Confectioner 0.160 

Fisherman 0.190 

Coolie 0.165 



Employes Engaged by the Month 



In sake brewery .... $5,465 
In soy brewery .... 3.110 



Servant (male) .... $1.36 
Servant (female) .... 0.78 



Peasant Engaged by the Year 
Male $16.06 Female . . . 



$8.53 



Eailwats in Japan 

The report on railway development shows that since 
the government constructed its first line of eighteen 
miles from Yokohama to Tokyo in 1872, a great trunk 



APPENDIX 323 

line of 1,200 miles lias been built, and the total mileage 
in the country increased to 4,115, which in 1900 handled 
113,000,000 passengers and 14,000,000 tons of freight. 
Of the total mileage 2,967 miles are owned by private 
corporations and 1,148 by the government, which was 
the pioneer in the movement to give the country modern 
land transportation. No private construction was done 
until 1883, when the government had 181 miles of rail- 
way under operation, and it was not until 1889 that 
private enterprise began to lead the governmental effort. 
The state railways now in operation cost, according to 
the report, the sum of 85,573,511 yen, while the private 
systems represent an expenditure for construction to date 
of 191,230,291 yen. The government now has under 
construction lines that will cost 21,683,789 yen, and the 
private corporations have work that will cost 6,283,139 
yen. 

The report thus classifies the capital of the private 
railroads: Stocks, 181,267,472 yen; bonds, 11,017,800 
yen; other liability, 9,930,784 ye7i; miscellaneous, 8, 070,- 
901 yen. 

According to the reports made on the railways at the 
end of the year 1900, the gross earnings of both state 
and private railways for that year were 44,934,394 yen, 
the gross expenditure 20,732,764 ye^i, and the net profit 
24,200,130 yen. 

At the end of 1901 the state had 1,017 miles of new 
line under construction and the private companies had 
817 miles projected, so the increase of this and the suc- 
ceeding year will be large. The people of the country 
opposed the construction of the first line from Yoko- 
hama to Tokyo as a dangerous thing, and it was sev- 
eral years before public opposition to the innovation was 
entirely removed. Bond issues for railway construction 
were opposed, but the government insisted on its policy 
and finally won general support. At the end of 1901 



324 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



on all lines there were 1,350 locomotives, 4,529 passenger 
coaches, and 19,820 freight cars in use. 

Postal Savings in Japan ^ 

The following is a brief survey of the working of 
Japan's Postal Savings System during the past eight- 
and-twenty years. 

It must be admitted at the outset that the system of 
postal savings in Japan cannot boast of any particularly 
brilliant record. The study of it reveals, however, a 
state of things which is not without some encouraging 
features. We give below the amounts of the deposits 
and some other items for every third year since the 
inauguration of the institution : — 





Deposits at the End 




Amount per 


Yeah. 


OP THE Tear. 


No. OF Depositors. 


Depositor. 




Yen. 




Yen. 


1875 


15,000 


1,800 


8 


1878 


286,000 


14,100 


20 


1881 


821,000 


38,900 


21 


1884 


5,260,000 


141,200 


37 


1887 


18,213,000 


568,800 


31 


1890 


19,197,000 


813,700 


25 


1893 


26,155,000 


1,060,200 


24 


1896 


28,251,000 


1,273,300 


21 


1899 


23,455,000 


1,397,600 


16 


1902 


28,536,000 


2,707,500 


10 



The sudden drop between the years 1896 and 1902 is 
owing to the fact that the extraordinarily high interest 
offered by the ordinary banks during that period of 
monetary stringency diverted deposits from the Post 
Offices. The gradual fall in the general rates of interest 
since then has already begun to turn the tide back in 
favor of the Post Offices, as shown by the figures for 
last year. What is particularly satisfactory is the in- 

1 From the " Japan Times." 



APPENDIX 325 

crease in the number of depositors, the increase in this 
respect being far more remarkable than the increase in 
the amount of the deposits, as shown by the decreasing 
amount per depositor. This means, if it means any- 
thing, that the advantages offered by the Postal Savings 
Bank are more and more extensively appreciated by the 
poorer classes. 

The amount of deposits at the Postal Savings Bank 
seems to be steadily increasing since the end of last year, 
for Mr. Matsunaga of the Communications Department, 
writing in the March number of the '' Giuko Tsushin- 
Koku," tells us that it is already nearly 30,000,000 yen. 
Not altogether unsatisfactory as is this result of the offi- 
cial efforts to encourage the saving habit among the people, 
it must be noted that we are in this respect far behind 
some of the European countries. Consulting the statistics 
for the year 1898, we find the postal savings reached in 
that year to £120,000,000 in England, £33,000,000 in 
Pratice, £21,000,000 in Belgium, £4,800,000 in Austria, 
£1,000,000 in Hungary, £2,700,000 in Holland, and 
£3,400,000 in Sweden. In spite of the great improve- 
ment effected in the system of late years, especially in 
the way of simplifying the official procedure connected 
with the acceptance and repayment of the deposits, much 
still remains to be done in order to bring the facilities 
provided by it within easy reach of the people by in- 
creasing the number of the Post Offices authorized to 
receive deposits throughout the country. 

While speaking of savings, it may not be uninterest- 
ing to mention a few figures on the state of the deposits 
at the ordinary banks. We do not happen to have at 
hand the statistics covering all the banking concerns in 
the country. The " Ginko Tsushin-Eoku," however, sup- 
plies us with reliable statistics up to February, 1902, so 
far as the principal banking centres are concerned. We 
find, then, that the total amount of deposits at the banks 



326 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

belonging to the clearing-houses of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, 
Nagoya, Yokohama, and Kobe, stood at the end of Feb- 
ruary at 308,289,000 yen^ made up as follows : — 

Ten. 

Tokyo 119,268,000 

Osaka 75,824,000 

Yokohama 49,280,000 

Kobe 23,423,000 

Kyoto 22,616,000 

Nagoya 17,878,000 

The above figures do not include the deposits at the 
Bank of Japan, which usually amount to from fifty to 
sixty million yen. We may approximately estimate the 
maximum limit of the loanable capital in our money 
market at any one moment at about 500,000,000 yen. 



The Oil Industry in Japan ^ 

Japan's oil industry has a brilliant future before it. 
The use of kerosene in the country has grown at a won- 
derfully rapid pace. In the first year of Meiji the 
amount of oil imported was 639 koku. In 1901 it had 
reached 1,300,000 koku. The value of the oil imported 
in 1868 was only 7,236 yen ; that imported in 1901 was 
14 million yen. The following table shows the rate at 
which the import of kerosene into Japan increased : — 



Teaes. 


Koku. 


Valub. 
Yen. 


1868 


639 


7,236 


1872 


8,936 


160,608 


1877 


53,645 


605,598 


1882 


413,644 


2,320,905 


1887 


421,177 


1,871,428 


1892 


653,785 


3,328,398 


1897 


1,221,164 


7,667,350 


1900 


1,356,846 


14,162,652 


1901 


1,379,927 


14,943,400 



^rom the "Japan Mail.'' 



APPENDIX 



327 



ISrotwithstanding the large supply that has come from 
abroad, of late years the demand for the Echigo oil has 
gone on increasing, as shown in the subjoined table, 
which covers seven years. 



Tbabs. 


Kohu OP Ceudb 


Value. 


Peteolbum. 


Yen. 


1895 


158,334 


526,976 


1896 


207,470 


619,333 


1897 


257,614 


668,677 


1898 


355,006 


670,308 


1899 


544,583 


1,450,904 


1900 


836,628 


2,142,003 


1901 


1,115,807 


2,345,916 



It is calculated that about 5/10 of the total quantity of 
this crude petroleum was used for lighting purposes. 
It would seem, then, that Echigo supplied 3/10 of the 
total amount of oil used for lighting in Japan during 
the seven years, and that the remaining 7/10 came' from 
abroad. Taking the year 1901, the value of the crude 
petroleum being 2,345,916 yen, it is estimated that when 
refined this amount of petroleum would fetch not less 
than 4 million yen. But the fact remains that the pro- 
portion of oil imported is still very large, so that there 
is room for a further great development of the business. 
As to the limits of the Japanese supply of oil, it seems 
impossible to obtain any trustworthy information. 
Echigo is by no means worked out : new fields are con- 
stantly being discovered in that province. Then petro- 
leum has been found in Hokkaido and in the Yamagata 
and Shizuoka prefectures. So that among Japan's 
modern industries her oil trade may be pronounced to 
be full of promise. How the quality of the Japanese 
oil compares with the American and Russian brands, we 
are not told by the Jiji, but from other sources we gather 
that when properly refined Japanese petroleum is equal 
to the best American and Russian oils. 



328 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



NATIONAL 

The following tabled show3 the national development in population, 
the past 30 years. 



Ybak. 


Population. 
(in Thousand.) 


State 

EXPENDITUEE. 

Yen. 


Teadb. 
Yen. 


1872 


33,210 


57,730,025 


43,204,462 


1873 


33,300 


62,678,601 


49,742,830 


1874 


33,625 


82,269,528 


42,779,120 


1875 


33,997 


69,203,242 


48,586,738 


1876 


34,338 


59,308,956 


51,676,296 


1877 


(unknown) 


48,428,324 


50,769,424 


1878 


" 


60,911,336 


58,862,974 


1879 


35,768 


60,317,578 


61,128,772 


1880 


35,929 


63,140,896 


65,021,987 


1881 


36,358 


71,460,321 


62,250,133 


1882 


36,700 


73,480,667 


67,168,344 


1883 


37,017 


83,106,859 


64,712,861 


1884 


37,451 


76,663,108 


63,544,112 


1885 


37,868 


61,115,313 


66,503,659 


1886 


38,507 


83,223,960 


84,044,745 


1887 


39,069 


79,453,036 


96,711,932 


1^888 


39,607 


81,504,024 


131,160,744 


1889 


40,072 


79,713,671 


136,164,472 


1890 


40,453 


82;i25,403 


138,332,086 


1891 


40,718 


83,558,891 


142,454,540 


1892 


41,089 


76,734,740 


162,428,833 


1893 


41,388 


84,581,872 


177,970,036 


1894 


41,813 


78,128,643 


230,028,141 


1895 


42,270 


85,317,179 


265,372,756 


1896 


42,706 


168,856,509 


289,517,234 


1897 


43,228 


223,678,844 


382,435,848 


1898 


43,763 


219,757,568 


443,255,909 


1899 


44,260 


254,365,537 


435,331,802 


1900 




292,726,996 


491,691,839 


1901 


.... 


266,856,824 


508,166,187 


1902 


.... 


275,751,194 





NoTK. — In expenditure, the figures from 1872 up to 1898 are taken 
from the settled account, and those of 1899, 1900, and 1901 from the actual 
account. 1902 is from the Budget. In railways, the figures show the 
mileages of the lines belonging to the government as well as those belong- 
ing to private firms opened to traffic at the end of the respective years. 
The tonnage of vessels shown in the table is that of steamers. Before 



• From the " Toyo Keizai Shimpo" (Oriental EconomiBt). 



APPENDIX 



329 



DEVELOPMENT. 

finance, trade, railway. 



vessels, telegraphs, savings, and currency, within 



Railway. 

Mtt.ps. 


Vessels. 
Ton. 


Tblbgbaphic 

Lines. 

Hi. 


Savings. 
Yen. 


Money in 

Circulation. 

Yen. 


18 


22,364 


87 




132,611,498 


18 


26,988 


806 


.... 


159,423,361 


38 


26,120 


1,758 




157,660,830 


38 


42,304 


1,833 


15,224 


154,931,596 


65 


40,248 


2,156 


41,845 


163,692,344 


66 


49,105 


2,876 


100,138 


175,432,023 


68 


43,899 


3,512 


286,289 


221,994,874 


73 


42,763 


3.842 


494,114 


215,912,239 


98 


41,215 


4,489 


662,091 


203,994,171 


122 


41,044 


5.078 


821,938 


195,742,688 


170 


42,107 


5;477 


1,058,225 


186.376,681 


244 


45,350 


5,871 


2,298,502 


182,625,317 


262 


49,845 


6,122 


5,260,484 


177,978,053 


353 


59,613 


6,283 


9,050,255 


181,433,916 


430 


63,314 


6,353 


15,462,054 


198,557,838 


593 


72,322 


6,818 


18,417,022 


200,157,163 


912 


81,066 


7,588 


20,142,169 


207,825,609 


1,136 


88,816 


8,191 


19,976,419 


220,748,343 


1,339 


93,812 


9,250 


19,197,942 


205,408,438 


1,716 


95,588 


9,113 


26,424,174 


210,872,584 


1,870 


102,301 


9,920 


30.031,483 


219,848,385 


1,938 


110,205 


10,230 


32,199,954 


244,847,437 


2,118 


169,414 


11,502 


32,772,652 


256,088,534 


2,290 


213,221 


12,212 


41,143,695 


291,665,016 


2,507 


227,841 


15,431 


46,693,884 


307,461,803 


2,948 


426,624 


18,360 


51,550,536 


330,470,142 


3,120 


464,246 


20,561 


52,532,992 


285,589,698 


3,638 


498,376 


24,342 


68,829,712 


332.702,090 


3,855 


534,239 


27,390 


72,897,286 


318,280,814 


4,026 








306,315,006 



1896, the figures represented the aggregate amount of both registered and 
unregistered tonnage, while from that year up to 1902, the figures only 
represented registered tonnage. In savings, the figures show the total 
amount saved in the post offices as well in the savings banks at the end of 
the respective years. The figures from 1890 to 1900 indicate, however, the 
amounts of the postal savings only. 



330 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



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APPENDIX 331 



The Wealth of Japan 

The following estimate gives an idea of the wealth of 
Japan and its distribution : — 

Land 7,000 millions yen. 

Mines 500 " " 

Live-stock 80 *' " 

Buildings 1,900 " " 

Furniture 400 " " 

Railroads 350 " " 

Warships and merchant-ships .... 250 " " 

Specie 200 " " 

Miscellaneous 300 " " 

Goods and other products 800 " " 

Total 11,080 " '« 



On the position Japanese occupy as regards the ac- 
quisition of wealth Mr. Kure Bunso, the well-known 
statistician, writes in the " Shakaigaku Zasshi " as follows : 
There are only two men in Japan who pay an income 
tax on over 250,000 yen. There are only 13 men in the 
whole country who pay on 39,000 yen, being in the pro- 
portion of 4 persons to every 100,000 inhabitants ; only 
67 who pay on 24,000 yen, being in the proportion of 2 
persons to every 10,000 inhabitants ; 96 persons who 
pay on 17,000 yen, being in the proportion of 2.8 persons 
to every 10,000 inhabitants ; those who pay on 11,000 
yen number 140, being in the proportion of 4 persons to 
every 10,000 inhabitants. Out of every 1,000 inhabitants 
there are only 7 persons who make 2,700 yen a year. 
Thus it is seen that when compared with the French 
and the English the Japanese are extremely poor. The 
Germans seem to be rich to the Japanese, though when 
compared with the French and English they are poor. 
General Grant, when in Japan nearly twenty years ago, 
remarked that Japan was fortunate in having such an 
equality among all classes of the people. He said that 



332 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

the gulf between the rich and the poor did not exist here. 
Equality may be all very well in its way, but, says Mr. 
Kure, a state of equality in which most of the people 
hardly have enough to live on is anything but desirable.' 



The new building of the Mitsui Company in Tokyo is 
constructed upon steel frames, and is the only one of 
its kind in the East. The Mitsui Bank is the oldest 
banking establishment in Japan, more than 200 years 
old. The building area is 2,600 square yards on a site 
covering 2^ acres. 

Japanese Year Periods 

It should be borne in mind that the Japanese year 
periods do not regularly correspond with the reigns of 
the Emperors, because " a new one was chosen whenever 
it was deemed necessary to commemorate an auspicious 
or ward off a malign event." But hereafter the era will 
correspond with the reign of an Emperor. The names 
of some of these eras are quite famous, like the Eliza- 
bethan or the Victorian Era in English history. As the 
first era was a time of great reforms, it is known as 
the Taikwa Reformation; the Engi Era, in the tenth 
century, is celebrated for important legislation; the 
Genroku Era, in the seventeenth century, was " a period 
of great activity in various arts " ; and the Tempo Era, 
of recent days, was '' the last brilliant period of feudal- 
ism before its fall." This name was also given to the 
large 8 rin piece coined in that era. The Wado Era, 
in the fourteenth century, was so named on account of 
the discovery of copper ; and the second era, Hakuchi, 
commemorates a "white pheasant," presented to the 
Emperor. 

1 From the " Japan Mail." 



APPENDIX 



333 



LIST OF JAPANESE YEAR PERIODS.i 



Name. 


Japanese 
Eea.2 


Chsistian 
Eka. 


Name. 


Japanese 
Eea. 


Christian 
Eba. 


Taikwa . . . 


1305 


645 


Tengen . . 


1638 


978 


Hakuchi . 




1310 


650 


Eikwan 






1643 


983 


(Blank) . . 




1315-1331 


655-671 


Kwanna 






1645 


985 


Sujaku . . 




1332 


672 


Eieu . 






1647 


987 


Hakuho . . 




1332 


672 


Ei>o . 






1649 


989 


Shucho . . 




1346 


686 


Sboriaku 






1650 


990 


(Blank) . . 




1347-1360 


687-700 


Chotoku 






1655 


995 


Daiho [Taiho] 




1361 


701 


Ch5ho . 






1659 


999 


Keiun . . 




1364 


704 


Kwanko 






1664 


1004 


Wado . . 




1368 


708 


Chowa . 






1672 


1012 


Reiki. . . 




1375 


715 


Kwannin 






1677 


1017 


Yoro . . . 




1377 


717 


Ji-an 






1681 


1021 


Jinki. . . 




1384 


724 


Manju . 






1684 


1024 


Tembio . . 




1389 


729 


Chogen 






1688 


1028 


Tembio sholio 




1409 


749 


Choriaku 






1697 


1037 


Tembio hoji 




1417 


757 


Chokiu 






1700 


1040 


Tembio jingo 




1425 


765 


Kwantoku 






1704 


1044 


Jingo keiun 




1427 


767 


Eijo . 






1706 


1046 


Hoki . . . 




1430 


770 


Tengi . 






1713 


1053 


Ten5 . . 






1441 


781 


Kohei . 






1718 


1058 


Enriaku . 






1442 


782 


Jiriaku 






1725 


J 065 


Daido . 






1466 


806 


Enkiu . 






1729 


1069 


Konin . 






1470 


810 


Joho . 






1734 


1074 


Tencho . 






1484 


824 


Joriaku 






1737 


1077 


Jowa . . 






1494 


834 


Eibo . 






1741 


1081 


Kajo . . 






1508 


848 


Otoku . 






1744 


1084 


Ninju 






1511 


851 


Kwanji 






1747 


1087 


Saiko . 






1514 


854 


Kaho . 






1754 


1094 


Tenan . 






1517 


857 


Eicho . 






1756 


1096 


Jogwan , 






1519 


859 


Jotoku . 






1757 


1097 


Gwangio 






1537 


877 


Kowa . 






1759 


1099 


Ninna . 






1545 


885 


Choii . 






1764 


1104 


Kwampei 






1549 


889 


Kaj5 . 






1766 


1106 


Shotai . 






1558 


898 


Tennin 






1768 


1108 


Engi . . 






1561 


901 


Tenei . 






1770 


1110 


Encho . 






1583 


923 


Eikiu . 






1773 


1113 


J5hei . . 






1591 


931 


Genei . 






1778 


1118 


Tengio . 






1598 


938 


Hoan . 






1780 


1120 


Tenriaku 






1607 


947 


Tenji . 






1784 


1124 


Tentoku . 






1617 


957 


Daiji . 






1786 


1126 


Owa . . 






1621 


961 


Tenjo . 






1791 


1131 


Koho . . 






1624 


964 


Chojo . 






1792 


1132 


Anna 






1628 


968 


Hoen . 






1795 


1135 


Tenroku 






1630 


970 


Eiji . 






1801 


1141 


Ten-en . 






1633 


973 


Koji 






1802 


1142 


Jogen 






1636 


976 


Tenyo . 






1804 


1144 



From ofBcial sources. 



Beginning 660 B. C. 



334 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



Name. 


Japanese 
Era. 


Chkistian 
Eea. 


Name. 


Japanese 

Eea. 


Chbistian 

Eka. 


Kiu-an . . . 


1805 


1145 


Sho-o . . . 


1948 


1288 


Nimbio . 




1811 


1151 


Einin . . . 


1953 


1293 


Kiuju 




1814 


1154 


Shoan . . . 


1959 


1299 


Hogen . 




1816 


1156 


Kengen . . 


1962 


1302 


Heiii . 




1819 


1159 


Kagen . . . 


1963 


1303 


Eiriaku . 




1820 


1160 


Tokuji . . . 


1966 


1306 


Oho . . 




1821 


1161 


Enkio . . . 


1968 


1308 


Chokwan 




1823 


1163 


Ocho . . . 


1971 


1311 


Eiman . 




1825 


1165 


Showa . . . 


1972 


1312 


Ninan . 




1826 


1166 


Bumpo . . . 


1977 


1317 


Ka-o . . 




1829 


1169 


Gen-o . . . 


1979 


1319 


Jo-an 




1831 


1171 


Genko . . . 


1981 


1321 


Angen . 




1835 


1175 


Shochu . . 


1984 


1324 


Jisho. . 




1837 


1177 


Kariaku . . 


1986 


1326 


Yowa . 




1841 


1181 


Gentoku . . 


1989 


1329 


Ju-ei . . . 




1842 


1182 


Shokio [Genko] 


1992 


1332 


Genriaku 




1844 


1184 


Keniniu . . 


1994 


1334 


Banji . 




1845 


1185 


Rekio . . . 


1998 


13381 


Kenkiu . . 




1850 


1190 


Koei 




2002 


13421 


Shoji . . 




1859 


1199 


Jowa 




2005 


13451 


Kennin . 




1861 


1201 


Kwano 




2010 


13501 


Genkiu . 




1864 


1204 


Bunna 




2012 


13521 


Kenei . . 




1866 


1206 


Embun 




2016 


13561 


Jogen 




1867 


1207 


Koan 




2021 


13611 


Kenriaku . 




1871 


1211 


Joji . 




■2022 


13621 


Kempo . 




1873 


1213 


Oan. 




2028 


13681 


Jokiu . 




1879 


1219 


Eiwa 




2035 


13751 


Jo-o . . 




1882 


1222 


Koreki 




2039 


13791 


Gennin . 




1884 


1224 


Eitoku 




2041 


13811 


Karoku . 




1885 


1225 


Shitoku 




2044 


13841 


Antei 




1887 


1227 


Kakei 




2047 


1387 1 


Kwangi . 




1889 


1229 


Koo. 




2049 


13891 


Jo-ei 




1892 


1232 


Engen 




1996 


1336 2 


Tempuku 




1893 


1233 


Kokoku . . 


2000 


13402 


Bunriaku 




1894 


1234 


Shohei . . . 


2006 


1346 2 


Katei . . 




1895 


1235 


Kentoku . . 


2030 


1370 2 


Riakunin 




1898 


1238 


Bunchu . . 


2032 


13722 


En-o . . 




1899 


1239 


Teniu . . . 


2035 


1375 2 


Ninji 




1900 


1240 


KoWa . . . 


2041 


13812 


Kwangen 




1903 


1243 


Genchu . . 


2044 


13842 


Hoji . . 




1907 


1247 


Meitoku . . 


2050 


1390 


Kencho . 




1909 


1249 


0-ei .... 


2054 


1394 


Kogen . 




1916 


1256 


Shocho . . 


2088 


1428 


Shoka . 




1917 


1257 


Eikio . . . 


2089 


1429 


Shogen . 




1919 


1259 


Kakilsu . . 


2101 


1441 


Buno . . 




1920 


1260 


Bunan . . . 


2104 


1444 


Kocho . 




1921 


1261 


Hotoku . . 


2109 


1449 


Bunei . 




1924 


1264 


Kotoku . . 


2112 


1452 


Kenji . . 




1935 


1275 


Kosho . . . 


2115 


1455 


Koan . . 




1938 


1278 


Choroku . . 


2117 


1457 



Northern Dynasty. 



a Southern Dynasty. 



APPENDIX 



335 



Namk. 


Japanese 
Era. 


Chbistian 
Era. 


Name. 


Japanese 
Era. 


Chbistiah 
Bra. 


Kwansho . . 


2120 


1460 


Tenna . . . 


2341 


1681 


Bunsho . 






2126 


1466 


Jokio . 






2344 


1684 


Onin . 








2127 


1467 


Genroku 






2348 


1688 


Bummei 








2129 


1469 


Ho-ei . 






2364 


1704 


Choko 








2147 


1487 


Shotoku 






2371 


1711 


Entoku 








2149 


1489 


Kioho . 






2376 


1716 


Mei-o 








2152 


1492 


Gembun 






2396 


1736 


Bunki 








2161 


1501 


Kwampo 






2401 


1741 


Eisho 








2164 


1504 


Enkio . 






2404 


1744 


Dai-ei 








2181 


1521 


Kwannen 






2408 


1748 


Koroku 








2188 


1528 


Horeki . 






2411 


1751 


Tembun 








2192 


1532 


Meiwa . 






2424 


1764 


Koii . 








2215 


1555 


Anei 






2432 


1772 


Eiroku 








2218 


1558 


Temmei 






2441 


1781 


Genki 








2230 


1570 


Kwansei 






2449 


1789 


Tensho 








2233 


1573 


Kiowa . 






2461 


1801 


Bunroku 








2252 


1592 


Bunkwa 






2464 


1804 


Keicho 








2256 


1596 


Bunsei . 






2478 


1818 


Genna 








2275 


1615 


Tempo . 






2490 


1830 


Kwanei 








2284 


1624 


Kokwa 






2504 


1844 


Shoho 








2304 


1644 


Ka-ei . 






2508 


1848 


Kei-an 








2308 


1648 


Ansei . 






2514 


1854 


Jo-o . 








2312 


1652 


Manen . 






2520 


1860 


Meireki 








2315 


1655 


Bunkiu 






2521 


1861 


Manji 








2318 


1658 


Genji . 






2524 


1864 


Kwambun 






2321 


1661 


Kei-o . 






2525 


1865 


Empo 






2333 


1673 


Meiji . 






2528 


1868 



The names of these periods are made by the various combinations of 
Chinese words of good omen. 



There are, moreover, other expressions which more 
closely" resemble such common Occidental phrases as the 
Victorian Era, the Elizabethan Era, the Age of Pericles, 
except that in the impersonal Orient such expressions 
are named more often from places. In Japanese history, 
for instance, it is very common to read of the Nara 
Epoch, the Heian Epoch, the Muromachi Period, the 
Kamakura Period, the Yedo Era, the Tokyo Period 
(Modern Japan). Personal names are applied, however, 
in such cases as the Hojo Era, the Ashikaga Period, 
the Tokugawa Era, the Fujiwara Period. 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



Chronological Table of Emperors and Empresses.^ 



1. Jimmu (660-585 b. c.) 

2. Suizei (581-549) 

3. Annei (548-511) 

4. Itoku (510-477) 

5. Kosho (475-393) 

6. Koan (392-291) 

7. Korei (290-215) 

8. Kogen (214-158) 

9. Kaikwa (157-98) 

10. Sujin (97-30) 

11. Suinin (29 b. C.-70 A. D. 

12. Keiko (71-130 A. d.) 

13. Seimu (131-190) 

14. Chuai (192-200) 
[15. Jm^o 1 (201-269)] 

16. Ojin (270-310) 

17. Nintoku (313-399) 

18. Richfu (400-405) 

19. Hanzei (406-411) 

20. Ingyo (412-453) 

21. Anko (454-456) 

22. Yuryaku (457-479) 

23. Seinei (480-484) 

24. Kenso (485-487) 

25. Ninken (488-498) 

26. Muretsu (499-506) 

27. Keitai (507-531) 

28. Ankan (534-535) 

29. Senkwa (536-539) 

30. Kimmei (540-571) 

31. Bidatsu (572-585) 

32. Yomei (586-587) 

33. Sujun (588-592) 

34. Suiko (593-628) 

35. Jomei (629-641) 

36. KogyoTcu (642-645) 

37. Kotoku (645-654) 

38. Saimei (655-661) 

39. Tenchi (668-671) 

40. Kobun (672) 

41. Temmu (673-686) 

42. Jito (690-696) 

43. Mommu (697-707) 



44. Gemmyo (708-715) 

45. Gensho (715-723) 

46. Shomu (724-748) 

47. Koken (749-758) 

48. Junnin (758-764) 

49. Shotoku (765-770) 

50. Konin (770-781) 

51. Kwammu (782-806) 

52. Heizei (806-809) 

53. Saga (810-823) 

54. Junna (824-833) 

55. Nimmyo (834-850) 

56. Montoku (851-858) 
67. Seiwa (859-876) 

58. Yozei (877-884) 

59. Koko (885-887) 

60. Uda (888-897) 

61. Daigo (898-930) 

62. Shujaku (931-946) 

63. Murakami (947-967) 

64. Eeizei (968-969) 

65. Enyu (970-984) 

66. Kwazan (985-986) 

67. Ichijo (987-1011) 

68. Sanjo (1012-1016) 

69. Go-Ichijo 2 (1017-1036) 

70. Go-Shujaku (1037-1045) 

71. Go-Reizei (1046-1068) 

72. Go-Sanjo (1069-1073) 

73. Shirakawa (1073-1086) 

74. Horikawa (1087-1107) 

75. Toba (1108-1123) 

76. Shutoku (1124-1141) 

77. Konoye (1142-1155) 

78. Go-Shirakawa (1156-1158) 

79. Nijo (1159-1165) 

80. Rokuio (1166-1168) 

81. Takakura (1169-1180) 

82. Antoku (1181-1185) 

83. Go-Toba (1186-1198) 

84. Tsuchimikado (1199-1210) 

85. Juntoku (1211-1221) 

86. Chukyo(1222) 



1 Empresses in Italics. Bracketed names (Nos. 15 and 99) are omitted from i 
Usts. 

2 6o is a prefix signifying the second of the name. 



APPENDIX 



337 



[99. 
100. 
101. 
102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
107. 



Go-Horikawa (1222-1232) 
Shijo (1233-1242) 
Go-Saga (1243-1246) 
Go-Fukakusa (1247-1259) 
Kameyama (1260-1274) 
Go-Uda (1275-1287) 
Fushimi (1288-1298) 
Go-Fushimi (1299-1301) 
Go-Nijo (1302-1307) 
Hanazono (1308-1318) 
Go-Daigo (1319-1338) 
Go-Murakami (1339-1367) 
Chokei (1368-1383)] 
Go-Kameyama (1383-1392) 
Go-Komatsu (1392-1412) 
Shoko (1413-1428) 
Go-Hanazono (1429-1464) 
Go-Tsuchimikado (1465-1500) 
Go-Kashiwabara (1501-1526) 
Go-Nara (1527-1557) 
Ogimachi (1558-1586) 
Go-Yozei (1587-1611) 
Go-Mizuno-o (1612-1629) 
Myosho (1630-1643) 
Go-Komyo (1644-1654) 
Go-Saiin (1655-1663) 



113. Reignen (1663-1686) 

114. Higashiyama (1687-1709) 

115. Nakano-mikado (1710-1735) 

116. Sakuramachi (1736-1746) 

117. Momozono (1747-1762) 

118. Go- Sakuramachi (1763-1770) 

119. Go-Momozono (1771-1779) 

120. Kokaku (1780-1817) 

121. Ninko (1817-1846) 

122. Komei (1847-1867) 

123. Mutsuhito (1867- ) 

N. B. — Nos. 36 and 38 were the 
same empress ; likewise Nos. 47 and 
49. 

We append also a list of the 
sovereigns of the " Northern Court" 
during the separation, as follows : 

1. Kogon (1332-1335) 

2. Komyo (1336-1348) 

3. Shuko (1349-1352) 

4. Go-Kogon (1352-1371) 

5. Go-Enyu (1372-1382) 

6. Go-Komatsu (1383-1392) 

In 1392 Go-Komatsu became em- 
peror over the reunited empire. 



Ministerial Changes in Japan ^ 
The following table shows the cabinet changes that 
have taken place since constitutional government was 
instituted : — 



Tbbm o¥ Office. 



Kuroda . . . 
Yamagata 

Matsukata . . 

Ito . . . . 

Matsukata . . 

Ito . . . . 
Okuma-Itagaki 
Yamagata 

Ito . , . . 

Katsura . . . 



Apr. 


'88-Oct. 


'89 




t) 


Dec. 


'89-Apr. 


'91 




4 


Mav 


'91-July 


'92 




2 


Aug. 


'92-Aug. 


'96 







Sept. 


'96-Dec. 


'97 




3 


Jan. 


'98-June 


'98 




5 


June 


'98-Oct. 


'98 




4 


Nov. 


'98-Sept. 


'00 




10 


Oct. 


'00-May 


'01 





7 


June 


'01- 









In connection with this table, we wish to call attention 
to the fact that the average duration of the ten Minis- 

22 



338 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

tries is less than one year and a half ; and . that the 
average was considerably raised by the unusual length of 
the Ito Ministry, which covered the period of the war 
with China, when political rivalries were buried. It is 
quite probable that, if a foreign war had not occurred to 
unify the nation, that Ministry would not have had a 
duration so greatly in excess of the average, especially 
as, at the outbreak of the war, party feeling was run- 
ning very high. In that case the general average would 
have been reduced by an increase in the number of 
cabinets. It should also be noticed that three of these 
Ministries (both Matsukata, and the second Ito), came 
to an end on account of collision with the Diet; and 
that four Ministries (the Kuroda, the first and third Ito, 
and the first party Cabinet of Okuma and Itagaki) were 
broken up by internal dissensions. 

Japan's House of Peers 
Among its 328 members only 53 sit by hereditary 
right ; namely, 14 Princes of the Blood, 11 Princes, and 
28 Marquises. Among the remaining members, 119 are 
elected by the Counts, Viscounts, and Barons, 111 are 
Imperial Nominees, — that is to say, men who have 
earned distinction by eminent services or attainments, 
— and 45 represent the highest tax-payers in the 
prefectures. 

The Political Parties of Japan * 

The idea of popular representation in the government 
of Japan may be said to have had its birth with the 
Restoration, although some thoughtful men had been 
turning their minds in tliat direction at an earlier date. 
His Imperial Majesty the present Emperor, in his oath 

1 From summary of " A Brief Sketch of the History of the 
Political Parties in Japan," by A. H. Lay, in the " Japan Mail." 



APPENDIX 339 

on the occasion of his succession to the throne, made 
known his enlightened desire that men should meet in 
council from all parts of the country and all affairs 
of state be determined in accordance with public 
opinion. This pronouncement may be regarded as the 
starting-point of the movement for parliamentary repre- 
sentation. The germ of the present House of Peers and 
House of Representatives is found in the Gi-sei, a 
department of the government which was organized as 
early as June, 1868. The Kd-gi-jo, which was opened 
in the following year, was representative, not of the 
people, but of the governing authorities in the various 
localities. The members of the Sa-In^ which replaced 
the Kd-gi-jo (or Shugi-in) in September, 1871, were 
nominated by the Emperor and the council of state. 

The history of political parties in Japan may con- 
veniently be divided into four periods : (1) From the 
Restoration up to 1882, while as yet they were in embryo ; 
(2) from the year 1882, when they for the first time 
took actual shape, until 1888; (3) from the organiza- 
tion of the Daidd-Danketsu in 1887 until 1898 ; (4) the 
period since the amalgamation of the two strongest 
parties to form the constitutional party in 1898. 

During the early seventies discussion went on regard- 
ing the advisability of the formation of a popular 
assembly. In 1874 was formed the first political society, 
the Aikoku-to, or patriotic society, from which later 
sprang the Liberal Party (Jiyu-to). In the previous 
year a division had taken place in the ranks of the 
higher ofBcials of the government. The one party was 
composed of those who desired rapid progress in domestic 
matters and a vigorous foreign policy ; the other desired 
steady progress at home and conciliation abroad. The 
latter party retained control of the government, and the 
former went into opposition. Among the most impor- 
tant of the radical party was Itagaki of Kochi Prefec- 



340 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

ture. He organized the first local society, and devoted 
himself constantly to the attainment of his end of bring- 
ing about parliamentary institutions in the country. 
We thus have Kochi, and later on Hizen, working for 
the extension of the power of the people, while the 
government was in the main conducted by Satsuma 
and Choshu men. 

The agitation for popular representation, although 
checked for a time by the Satsuma Rebellion, gained 
strength in 1879 and 1880, and the government became 
convinced that the question could not longer be post- 
poned. On the 12th of October, 1881, the Emperor 
promulgated the famous ordinance in which the promise 
was given that a parliament should actually be established 
in 1890. As a preparatory measure, Ito, in company 
with a number of junior officials, was despatched to 
Europe early in 1882 to study the political systems of 
the West. The promise of a parliament served to give 
a more definite purpose to the various political associa- 
tions) and the year 1882 saw the formal organization of 
the three parties which, under various names, have con- 
tinued almost uninterruptedly to occupy the field until 
the present time. The Jiyu-to was the first organized, 
although not the first to be properly registered as a 
political association. 

It is noticeable that the utterances of the various 
political parties when they first came into existence 
present in the main no features of a distinctive nature. 
All put forth excellent doctrines, but usually of extreme 
vagueness. The same characteristic has been noticeable 
throughout their history except when some temporary 
question of urgency has arisen. This is no doubt the 
reason why the grouping has constantly changed, one 
merging into another, and secessions occurring without 
apparent cause. 1883 and the following years saw a fall- 
ing off in the interest in political parties, — doubtless a 



APPENDIX 341 

natural result of the over excitement which had just 
preceded, and of the apparent certainty of a parliament 
after 1890. The interest in politics and in parties 
revived, however, as the date assigned for the granting 
of the constitution approached. 

Since the opening of the first Diet, the efforts of the 
parties have in general been directed towards the secur- 
ing of control of the administration, — the establishment 
of parliamentary government. Except during the period 
of the war with China, when all party differences were 
for the time set aside, the parties have all been in more or 
less constant opposition to the government. Until within 
the last year or two, however, no party has possessed for 
any considerable length of time an absolute majority of 
the membership of the Lower House, sufficient to enable 
it to control the votes of that body. Political parties 
have now become a distinct power in the land which no 
statesman can afford entirely to neglect. From small 
and unruly beginnings, they have gradually progressed 
in influence and in organization. As by degrees they 
have been getting rid of their unruly and dangerous 
elements, and learning to a greater extent the lesson of 
responsibility, they have more and more gained the 
popular confidence. Possessing practically the power 
of the purse, — for in the Diet the House of Representa- 
tives has the first say as to the details of the budget 
presented by the government, — they have always to be 
reckoned with. . . . 

That there have been no distinct and well-defined 
party issues may be traced to the fact that feudalism 
gave place so suddenly to a modern state of society. 
The leaders of thought and those who have taken up 
the work of national rejuvenation have all been men of 
progressive tendencies. That the parties have fre- 
quently opposed the government in cases where opposi- 
tion for its own sake has been the only recognizable 



342 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

principle cannot be denied. It must be remembered 
that they have all along been struggling for a share in 
the administration. The political parties have well 
illustrated the intensely democratic character of the 
Japanese people side by side with marked reverence for 
the Emperor. The desire for equality and the revolt 
against the controlling influence of a narrow coterie has 
all along been exhibited. . . . 

I^ may perhaps take this opportunity to mention two 
characteristics of Japanese political parties which have 
impressed themselves upon me in the course of my own, 
as yet comparatively slight, study of the politics of this 
country. As in so many other aspects of Japanese life, 
so also in politics, I think we can see a curious blending 
of Old Japan with the very latest and most advanced 
which the West has to offer. It was a remark of the 
most influential, if not the greatest, English political 
philosopher of the nineteenth century, John Stuart Mill, 
that, even if we could be assured that an autocrat, an 
all-powerful individual ruler, would govern more wisely 
than a popular government, we ought, nevertheless, to 
prefer the popular government for the educative effect 
which the effort to govern produces upon the people. 

Now it will be found that there has been very much 
conscious or unconscious following of this idea in the 
progress of popular government in Japan. In marked 
contrast to the history of popular government in the 
West, where parliaments have been forced on the 
government from below for the protection of popular 
rights, popular representation has been granted from 
above in this country, and the people have groAvn up to 
it, or are in process of growing. The truth of this is 
not affected by the fact that contest between rival clans 
has been an ever controlling factor in the domestic 
politics of the country since Eestoration days. The 
1 Professor Griffin, in discussion of Mr. Lay's paper. 



APPENDIX 343 

agitation of the parties has been not so much directed 
against the measures of the government as against the 
fact that the government is not controlled by the repre- 
sentatives of the people. 

The element of Old Japan in the political parties is 
seen in the nature of political allegiance. What holds 
the parties together is men rather than measures. In 
Old Japan personal allegiance to one's feudal lord was 
one of the strongest feelings of the individual, and 
sufficed to give a distinct character to the life of the 
time. The most important elements of feudalism, the 
political and economic organization of the society which 
was founded upon it, have passed away, but the senti- 
mental part remains in the personal allegiance of men 
to their party leaders of to-day. What would the Seiyu- 
kai be without Marquis Ito, or the Progressive party 
without Count Okuma ? No doubt other leaders would 
be forthcoming if these were not present, the names of 
the parties might be retained, but the membership would 
almost certainly undergo enormous changes. 

Army Statistics of Japan ^ 

Surgeon-Major Koike, in a lecture delivered before 
the Medical Union in the salon of the Musical College 
in Uyeno, gave some interesting figures relating to the 
casualties in the North-China campaign as compared 
with the China-Japan war of 1894-1895. These will be 
most easily understood by putting them into tabular 
form. 

Total number of patients in the North-China campaign . 22,080 
Total number of deaths out of the above aggregate . . . 1,137 

(This, of course, is exclusive of those killed in the 
field; it shows only the sick and wounded.) 

1 From the " Japan Times." 



344 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



Nobth-China 
Campaign. 



Percentage of deaths 

Number of sick to each wounded man . . 
Number of deaths from sickness to each death 

from wounds 

Percentage of deaths among wounded men . 
Percentage of deaths among diseased men . 



5.1 
5.5 

2.3 
3.2 

4.2 



8.1 
4.1 

9.7 
3.9 
8.4 



Return of the Hiroshima Reserve Hospital 

Noeth-China 
Campaign. 
Percentage of deaths among wounded men . . . 2.1 
Percentage of deaths among sick men 3.3 

Comparative Figures {General) 
Total percentage of deaths among wounded men : 

Satsuma Rebellion 17.0 

China-Japan War 9.7 

North-China Campaign 4.6 

Comparative Figures Showing the Percentage of Sick 
during the Occupation of Peking in the Winter 

Russian troops . . . 8.75 (typhoid, dysentery, syphilis). 

French troops . . . 5.42 (typhoid, syphilis). 

German troops . . . 5.33 (typhoid, syphilis, dysentery). 

British troops . . . 5.22 (sunstroke, diarrhoea, dysentery, and 

typhoid). 

American troops . . 4.18 (dysentery, sunstroke, and syphilis). 

Japanese troops . . . 2.51 (kakke and tj'phoid). 

Establishment of Officers in the Japanese Army 

Field-marshals _ 2 

(Marquis Yamagata, Marquis Oyama). 

Full generals 3 

(Viscount Nozu, Viscount Sakuma, Count Katsura). 

Lieutenant-generals 21 

Major-generals 48 

Colonels 96 

Lieutenant-colonels 118 

Majors 481 

Captains 1,397 

Lieutenants 1,500 

Second lieutenants l|80a 



APPENDIX 345 



Japanese Naval Inckement'^ 

Writing about naval increment, the " Nichi Nichi 
Shimbun " notes the increase of the Japanese Navy 
during recent years as follows: — 

Total Tonnage. 

1894 57,900 

1896 79,000 

1897 100,000 

1898 134,000 

1899 154,000 

1900 204,000 

1901 232,000 

In the immediate future, the total tonnage will be raised 
to the post-bellum figure of 250,000 tons. Everybody 
agrees that Japan must not rest there. She has to keep 
up with the rapid additions made by other countries to 
their naval forces. That is not a matter of serious 
dif&culty so far as ships are concerned : they can alwaj^s 
be bought with money. But the men to man them is 
another problem. After the Restoration any number of 
recruits were obtainable for the army, as was natural 
in a country where a military feudalism had existed for 
centuries. The navy, however, could not be so easily 
supplied, maritime enterprise having been effectually 
checked under the Tokugawa rule. Difficulties about 
seamen may now be said to have been overcome. But 
that is not true of officers. Our contemporary here gives 
the following table : — 

Teas Number of Ofpicees and Total Force, 

Men Actually Sekvin&. Including Rbseevbs. 

1895 14,463 17,140 

1900 28,308 32,981 

This shows an increment of only 100 per cent, whereas 
the increase of tonnage in the same time was 400 per 
cent. The great difficulty is to get a supply of officers 

1 From the " Japan Mail." 



346 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

for the lower ranks — midshipmen aud lieutenants. 
The only college for educating these officers is at Eda- 
jima, where not more than 600 cadets can be accommo- 
dated. There, then, a change must be effected. It will 
probably take the form of organizing another naval col- 
lege at Yokosuka, and making arrangements that the 
preliminary education of candidates shall be effected in 
the middle schools. 

Japan's Mercantile Marine* 

The "Tokyo Keizai" publishes some interesting statis- 
tics bearing on the development of our mercantile marine. 
It was 1870 or thereabouts that the Japanese began to 
turn their attention to the carrying trade in the modern 
sense of the term, but its growth was slow until the 
Chinese War of 1894-1895. The following table gives the 
figures for the eleven years from 1892 to 1902 inclusive : 

Tbae. Tons. 

1892 214,000 

1893 325,000 

1894 3*20,000 

1895 386,000 

1896 417,000 

1897 486,000 

1898 648,000 

1899 793,000 

1900 863,000 

1901 917,000 

1902 934,000 

From the comparative statistics published by our con- 
temporary, it is noticed that, while in 1892 our mer- 
cantile fleet was the thirteenth in the world in point of 
tonnage, it had risen by 1901 to the eighth position. 
It is interesting to observe that it is rapidly coming up 
to the same relative status as that occupied by our naval 
1 From the " Japan Times." 



APPENDIX 347 

fleet whose position is the seventh among the navies of 
the world. ^ 



Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between 
Japan and the United States of America^ 

Signed at Washington, 22nd day of the 11th month, 27th year of Meiji. 
Ratifications exchanged at that City, 21st day of the 3rd month, 28th year 
of Meiji. 

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and the President 
of the United States of America being equally desirous 
of maintaining the relations of good understanding which 
happily exist between them, by extending and increasing 
the intercourse between their respective States, and 
being convinced that this object cannot better be accom- 
plished than by revising the Treaties hitherto existing 
between the two countries, have resolved to complete 
such a revision, based upon principles of equity and 
mutual benefit, and, for that purpose, have named as 
their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say : His Majesty the 
Emperor of Japan, Jushii Shinichiro Kurino, of the 
Order of the Sacred Treasure of the Fourth Class, and 
the President of the United States of America, Walter 
Q. Gresham, Secretary of State of the United States ; 
who, after having communicated to each other their full 
powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed 
upon and concluded the following Articles : — 

Art, I. — The subjects or citizens of each of the two 
High Contracting Parties shall have full liberty to 
enter, travel, or reside in any part of the territories of 
the other Contracting Party, and shall enjoy full and 
perfect protection for their persons and property. 

They shall have free access to the Courts of Justice 

1 See also Elgar's paper on " Japanese Shipping " in the 
Transactions Japan Society, London. 



348 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

in pursuit and defence of their rights; they shall be 
at liberty equally with native subjects or citizens to 
choose and employ lawyers, advocates, and representa- 
tives to pursue and defend their rights before such 
Courts, and in all other matters connected with the ad- 
ministration of justice they shall enjoy all the rights 
and privileges enjoyed by native subjects or citizens. 

In whatever relates to rights of residence and travel ; 
to the possession of goods and effects of any kind ; to 
the succession to personal estate, by will or otherwise, 
and the disposal of property of any sort and in any 
manner whatsoever which they may lawfully acquire, the 
subjects or citizens of each Contracting Party shall 
enjoy in the territories of the other the same privileges, 
liberties, and rights, and shall be subject to no higher 
imposts or charges in those respects than native sub- 
jects or citizens, or subjects or citizens of the most 
favoured nation. The subjects or citizens of each of the 
Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the territories of 
the other entire liberty of conscience, and, subject to the 
laws, ordinances, and regulations, shall enjoy the right 
of private or public exercise of their worship, and also 
the right of burying their respective countrymen accord- 
ing to their religious customs, in such suitable and con- 
venient places as may be established and maintained for 
that purpose. 

They shall not be compelled, under any pretext what- 
soever, to pay any charges or taxes other or higher than 
those that are, or may be, paid by native subjects or 
citizens, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured 
nation. 

The subjects or citizens of either of the Contracting 
Parties residing in the territories of the other shall be 
exempted from all compulsory military service whatso- 
ever, whether in the army, navy, national guard, or 
militia; from all contribution imposed in lieu of personal 



APPENDIX 349 

service ; and from all forced loans or military exactions 
or contributions. 

Abt. II. — There shall be reciprocal freedom of com- 
merce and navigation between the territories of the two 
High Contracting Parties. 

The subjects or citizens of each of the Contracting 
Parties may trade in any part of the territories of the 
other by wholesale or retail in all kinds of produce, 
manufactures, and merchandize of lawful commerce, 
either in person or by agents, singly or in partnerships 
with foreigners or native subjects or citizens ; and they 
may there own or hire and occupy houses, manufactories, 
warehouses, shops, and premises which may be neces- 
sary for them, and lease land for residential and com- 
mercial purposes, conforming themselves to the laws, 
police and customs regulations of the country like native 
subjects or citizens. 

They shall have liberty freely to come with their 
ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and rivers in the 
territories of the other, which are or may be opened to 
foreign commerce, and shall enjoy, respectively, the 
same treatment in matters of commerce and navigation 
as native subjects or citizens, or subjects or citizens of 
the most favoured nation without having to pay taxes, 
imposts, or duties, of whatever nature or under whatever 
denomination levied in the name or for the profit of the 
Government, public functionaries, private individuals, 
corporations, or establishments of any kind, other or 
greater than those paid by native subjects or citizens 
or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation. 

It is, however, understood that the stipulations con- 
tained in this and the preceding Article do not in any 
way affect the laws, ordinances, and regulations with 
regard to trade, the immigration of labourers, police and 
public security which are in force or which may here- 
after be enacted in either of the two countries. 



350 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Art. III. — The dwellings, manufactories, warehouses, 
and shops of the subjects or citizens of each of the High 
Contracting Parties in the territories of the other, and 
all premises appertaining thereto destined for purposes 
of residence or commerce, shall be respected. 

It shall not be allowable to proceed to make a search 
of, or a domiciliary visit to, such dwellings and premises, 
or to examine or inspect books, papers, or accounts, 
except under the conditions and with the forms pre- 
scribed by the laws, ordinances, and regulations for 
subjects or citizens of the country. 

Art. IV. — No other or higher duties shall be imposed 
on the importation into the territories of the United 
States of any article, the produce or manufacture of the 
territories of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, from 
whatever place arriving ; and no other or higher duties 
shall be imposed on the importation into the territories 
of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of any article, the 
produce or manufacture of the United States, from what- 
ever place arriving than on the like article produced or 
manufactured in any other foreign country ; nor shall any 
prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation 
of any article, the produce or manufacture of the terri- 
tories of either of the High Contracting Parties, into the 
territories of the other, from whatever place arriving, 
which shall not equally extend to the importation of the 
like article, being the produce or manufacture of any 
other country. This last provision is not applicable to 
the sanitary and other prohibitions occasioned by the 
necessity of protecting the safety of persons, or of cattle, 
or plants useful to agriculture. 

Art. V. — No other or higher duties or charges shall 
be imposed in the territories of either of the High Con- 
tracting Parties on the exportation of any article to the 
territories of the other than such as are, or may be, pay- 
able on the exportation of the like article to any other 



APPENDIX 351 

foreign country ; nor shall any prohibition be imposed 
on the exportation of any article from the territories of 
either of the two High Contracting Parties to the terri- 
tories of the other which shall not equally extend to the 
exportation of the like article to any other country. 

Art. VI. — The subjects or citizens of each of the 
High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the territories 
of the other exemption from all transit duties, and a 
perfect equality of treatment with native subjects or 
citizens in all that relates to warehousing, bounties, and 
drawbacks. 

Art. VII. — All articles which are or may be legally 
imported into the ports of the territories of His Majesty 
the Emperor of Japan in Japanese vessels may likewise 
be imported into those ports in vessels of the United 
States, without being liable to any other or higher duties 
or charges of whatever denomination than if such articles 
were imported in Japanese vessels ; and, reciprocally, 
all articles which are, or may be, legally imported into 
the ports of the territories of the United States in vessels 
of the United States may likewise be imported into 
those ports in Japanese vessels, without being liable to 
any other or higher duties or charges of whatever de- 
nomination than if such articles were imported in vessels 
of the United States. Such reciprocal equality of treat- 
ment shall take effect without distinction, whether such 
articles come directly from the place of origin or from 
any other place. 

In the same manner, there shall be perfect equality 
of treatment in regard to exportation, so that the same 
export duties shall be paid, and the same bounties and 
drawbacks allowed, in the territories of either of the 
High Contracting Parties on the exportation of any 
article which is or may be legally exported therefrom, 
whether such exportation shall take place in Japanese 
vessels or in vessels of the Uuited States, and whatever 



352 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

may be the place of destination, -whether a port of either 
of the High Contracting Parties or of any third Power. 

Art. YIII. — No duties of tonnage, harbour, pilotage, 
lighthouse, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding 
duties of whatever nature, or under whatever denomina- 
tion levied in the name or for the profit of Government, 
public functionaries, private individuals, corporations, 
or establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the 
ports of the territories of either country upon the vessels 
of the other country which shall not equally and under 
the same conditions be imposed in the like cases on 
national vessels in general or vessels of the most favoured 
nation. Such equality of treatment shall apply recipro- 
cally to the respective vessels, from whatever port or 
place they may arrive, and whatever may be their place 
of destination. 

Art. IX. — In all that regards the stationing, loading, 
and unloading of vessels in the ports, basins, docks, 
roadsteads, harbours, or rivers of the territories of the 
two countries, no privilege shall be granted to national 
vessels which shall not be equally granted to vessels of 
the other country ; the intention of the High Contracting 
Parties being that in this respect also the respective ves- 
sels shall be treated on the footing of perfect equality. 

Art. X. — The coasting trade of both the High Con- 
tracting Parties is excepted from the provisions of the 
present Treaty, and shall be regulated according to 
the laws, ordinances, and regulations of Japan and of the 
United States, respectively. It is, however, understood 
that Japanese subjects in the territories of the United 
States and citizens of the United States in the territories 
of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan shall enjoy in this 
respect the rights which are, or may be, granted under 
such laws, ordinances, and regulations to the subjects 
or citizens of any other country. 

A Japanese vessel laden in a foreign country with 



APPENDIX 353 

cargo destined for two or more ports in the territories 
of the United States and a vessel of the United States 
laden in a foreign country with cargo destined for two 
or more ports in the territories of His Majesty the 
Emperor of Japan, may discharge a portion of her cargo 
at one port, and continue her voyage to the other port 
or ports of destination where foreign trade is permitted, 
for the purpose of landing the remainder of her original 
cargo there, subject always to the laws and custom-house 
regulations of the two countries. 

The Japanese Government, however, agrees to allow 
vessels of the United States to continue, as heretofore, 
for the period of the duration of this Treaty, to carry 
cargo between the existing open ports of the Empire, 
excepting to or from the ports of Osaka, Niigata, and 
Ebisuminato. 

Art. XI. — Any ship-of-war or merchant vessel of 
either of the High Contracting Parties which may be 
compelled by stress of weather, or by reason of any 
other distress, to take shelter in a port of the other, 
shall be at liberty to refit therein, to procure all neces- 
sary supplies, and to put to sea again, without paying 
any dues other than such as would be payable by national 
vessels. In case, however, the master of a merchant 
vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a 
part of his cargo in order to defray the expenses, she 
shall be bound to conform to the regulations and tariffs 
of the place to which he may have come. 

If any ship-of-war or merchant vessel of one of the 
High Contracting Parties should run aground or be 
wrecked upon the coasts of the other, the local authori- 
ties shall inform the Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, 
or Consular Agent of the district of occurrence, or, if 
there be no such Consular officers, they shall inform the 
Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent 
of the nearest district. 



354 A HANDBOOK OF MODEEN JAPAN 

All proceedings relative to the salvage of Japanese 
vessels wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial waters 
of the United States shall take place in accordance with 
the laws of the United States; and, reciprocally, all 
measures of salvage relative to vessels of the United 
States wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial waters of 
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan shall take place in 
accordance with the laws, ordinances, and regulations of 
Japan. 

Such stranded or wrecked ship or vessel, and all parts 
thereof, and all furnitures and appurtenances belonging 
thereunto, and all goods and merchandize saved there- 
from, including those which may have been cast into the 
sea, or the proceeds thereof, if sold, as well as all papers 
found on board such stranded or wrecked ship or vessel, 
shall be given up to the owners or their agents, when 
claimed by them. If such owners or agents are not on 
the spot, the same shall be delivered to the respective 
Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, , or Consular 
Agents upon being claimed by them within the period 
fixed by the laws, ordinances, and regulations of the 
country, and such Consular officers, owners, or agents 
shall pay only the expenses incurred in the preservation 
of the property, together with the salvage or other ex- 
penses which would have been payable in the case of a 
wreck of a national vessel. 

The goods and merchandize saved from the wreck 
shall be exempt from all the duties of the Customs un- 
less cleared for consumption, in which ease they shall 
pay the ordinary duties, • 

When a ship or vessel belonging to the subjects or 
citizens of one of the High Contracting Parties is 
stranded or wrecked in the territories of the other, the 
respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and 
Consular Agents shall be authorized, in case the owner 
or master, or other agent of the owner, is not present, to 



APPENDIX 355 

lend their official assistance in order to afford the 
necessary assistance to the subjects or citizens of the re- 
spective States. The same rule shall apply in case the 
owner, master, or other agent is present, but requires 
such assistance to be given. 

Akt. XII. — All vessels which, according to Japanese 
law, are to be deemed Japanese vessels, and all vessels 
which, according to United States law, are to be deemed 
vessels of the United States, shall, for the purposes of 
this Treaty, be deemed Japanese vessels and vessels of 
the United States, respectively. 

Art. XIII. — The Consuls-G-eneral, Consuls, Vice- 
Consular Agents of each of the High Contracting Parties, 
residing in the territories of the other, shall receive from 
the local authorities such assistance as can by law be 
given to them for the recovery of deserters from the 
vessels of their respective countries. 

It is understood that this stipulation shall not apply 
to the subjects or citizens of the country where the 
desertion takes place. 

Art. XIV. — The High Contracting Parties agree 
that, in all that concerns commerce and navigation any 
privilege, favour, or immunity which either High Con- 
tracting Party has actually granted, or may hereafter 
grant, to the Government, ships, subjects, or citizens of 
any other State, shall be extended to the Government, 
ships, subjects, or citizens of the other High Contract- 
ing Party, gratuitously, if the concession in favour of 
that other State shall have been gratuitous, and on the 
same or equivalent conditions if the concession shall 
have been conditional ; it being their intention that the 
trade and navigation of each country shall be placed, in 
all respects, by the other on the footing of the most 
favoured nation. 

Art. XV. — Each of the High Contracting Parties 
ffiiay appoint Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, 



356 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Pro-Consuls, and Consular Agents, in all the ports, cities, 
and places of the other except in those where it may not 
be convenient to recognize such officers. 

This exception, however, shall not be made in regard 
to one of the High Contracting Parties without being 
made likewise in regard to every other Power. 

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Pro-Con- 
suls, and Consular Agents may exercise all functions, 
and shall enjoy all privileges, exemptions, and immuni- 
ties which are, or may hereafter be, granted to Consular 
officers of the most favoured nation. 

Art. XVI. — The subjects or citizens of each of the 
High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the territories 
of the other the same protection as native subjects or 
citizens in regard to patents, trademarks, and designs, 
upon fulfilment of the formalities prescribed by law. 

Art. XVII. — The High Contracting Parties agree to 
the following arrangement : — 

The several Foreign Settlements in Japan shall, from 
the date this Treaty comes into force, be incorporated 
with the respective Japanese communes, and shall 
thenceforth form part of the general municipal system 
of Japan. The competent Japanese authorities shall 
thereupon assume all municipal obligations and duties 
in respect thereof, and the common funds and property, 
if any, belonging to such Settlements shall at the same 
time be transferred to the said Japanese authorities. 

When such incorporation takes place, existing leases 
in perpetuity upon which property is now held in the 
said Settlements shall be confirmed, and no conditions 
whatever other than those contained in such existing 
leases shall be imposed in respect of such property. It 
is, however, understood that the Consular Authorities 
mentioned in the same are in all cases to be replaced by 
the Japanese Authorities. All lands which may pre- 
viously have been granted by the Japanese Government 



APPENDIX 357 

free of rent for the public purposes of the said Settle- 
ments shall, subject to the right of eminent domain, be 
permanently reserved free of all taxes and charges for 
the public purposes for which they were originally set 
apart. 

Art. XVIII. — The present Treaty shall, from the 
date it comes into force, be substituted in place of the 
Treaty of Peace and Amity concluded on the 3rd day of 
the 3rd month of the 7th year of Kayei corresponding 
to the 31st day of March, 1854; the Treaty of Amity 
and Commerce concluded on the 19th day of the 6th 
month of the 6th year of Ansei, corresponding to the 
29th day of July, 1858 ; the Tariff Convention concluded 
on the 13th day of the 5th month of the 2nd year of 
Keio, corresponding to the 25th day of June, 1866 ; the 
Convention concluded on the 25th day of the 7th month 
of the 11th year of Meiji, corresponding to the 26th 
day of July, 1878, and all Arrangements and Agreements 
subsidiary thereto concluded or existing between the 
High Contracting Parties, and from the same date such 
Treaties, Conventions, Arrangements, and Agreements 
shall cease to be binding, and in consequence, the juris- 
diction then exercised by Courts of the United States in 
Japan and all the exceptional privileges, exemptions, 
and immunities then enjoyed by citizens of the United 
States as a part of, or appurtenant to, such jurisdiction, 
shall absolutely and without notice cease and determine, 
and thereafter all such jurisdiction shall be assumed and 
exercised by Japanese Courts. 

Art. XIX. — This Treaty shall go into operation on 
the 17th day of July, 1899, and shall remain in force 
for the period of twelve years from that date. 

Either High Contracting Party shall have the right, 
at any time after eleven years shall liave elapsed from 
the date it goes into operation, to give notice to the 
other of its intention to terminate the same, and at the 



358 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

expiration of twelve months after such notice is given 
this Treaty shall wholly cease and determine. 

Art. XX. — This Treaty shall be ratified and the 
ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Tokyo or 
Washington as soon as possible, and not later than six 
months after its signature. 

In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries 
have signed the present Treaty in duplicate and have 
thereunto aflB.xed their seals. 

Done at the City of Washington the 22nd day of the 
11th month of the 27th year of Meiji, corresponding to 
the 22nd day of November in the eighteen hundred and 
ninety-fourth year of the Christian era. 

(Signed) Shinichiro Kurino. (L. S.) 

Walter Q. Gresham. (L. S.) 

[Amendment to the For3going Treaty Proposed by the Government of 
the United States of America and Ratified with the Treaty.] 

Art. XIX. — Clause 2, after the word " time " insert 
the word " thereafter " and strike out all after the word 
"time" down to and including the word "operation," 
so that the clause will read : " Either High Contracting 
Party shall have the right, at any time thereafter, to 
give notice to the other of its intention to terminate the 
same, and at the expiration of twelve mouths after such 
notice is given this Treaty shall wholly cease and 
determine." 

Protocol 

The Government of His Majesty the Emperor of 
Japan and the Government of the United States of 
America, deeming it advisable in the interests of both 
Countries to regulate certain special matters of mutual 
concern, apart from the Treaty of Commerce and Nav- 
igation signed this day, have, through their respec- 
tive Plenipotentiaries, agreed upon the following 
stipulations : — 



APPENDIX 359 

1. — It is agreed by the Contracting Parties that one 
month after the exchange of the ratifications of the 
Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed this day, 
the Import Tariff now in operation in Japan in respect 
of goods and merchandize imported into Japan by the 
citizens of the United States shall cease to be binding. 
From the same date the General Statutory Tariff of 
Japan, shall, subject to the provisions of Article IX. of 
the Treaty of March 31, 1854, at present subsisting 
between the Contracting Parties, so long as said Treaty 
remains in force, and thereafter, subject to the provis- 
ions of Article IV. and Article XIV., of the Treaty 
signed this day, be applicable to goods and merchan- 
dize, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the 
territories of the United States upon importation into 
Japan. 

But nothing contained in this Protocol shall be held 
to limit or qualify the right of the Japanese Govern- 
ment to restrict or to prohibit the importation of adul- 
terated drugs, medicines, food, or beverages ; indecent or 
obscene prints, paintings, books, cards, lithographic or 
other engravings, photographs or any other indecent 
or obscene articles ; articles in violation of patent, trade- 
mark, or copyright laws of Japan ; or any other article 
which for sanitary reasons or in view of public security 
or morals, might offer any danger. 

2. — The Japanese Government, pending the open- 
ing of the country to citizens of the United States, 
agrees to extend the existing passport system in such 
a manner as to allow citizens of the United States, on 
the production of a certificate of recommendation from 
the Kepresentative of the United States at Tokio, or 
from any of the Consuls of the United States at the 
open ports in Japan, to obtain upon application pass- 
ports available for any part of the country and for any 
period not exceeding twelve months, from the Imperial 



360 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

Japanese Foreign Oflfice in Tokio, or from the Chief 
Authorities in the Prefecture in which an open port is 
situated, it being understood that the existing Eules 
and Regulations governing citizens of the United 
States who visit the interior of the Empire are to be 
maintained. 

3. — The undersigned Plenipotentiaries have agreed 
that this Protocol shall be submitted to the two High 
Contracting Parties at the same time as the Treaty of 
Commerce and Navigation signed this day, and that 
when the said Treaty is ratified the agreements con- 
tained in the Protocol shall also equally be considered 
as approved, without the necessity of a further formal 
ratification. 

It is agreed that this Protocol shall terminate at the 
same time the said Treaty ceases to be binding. 

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries 
have signed the same and have affixed thereto their 
seals. 

Done at Washington the 22nd day of the 11th month 
of the 27th year of Meiji, corresponding to the 22nd 
November, in the eighteen hundred and ninety-fourth 
year of the Christian era. 

(Signed) Shinichiro Kurino. (L. S.) 
Walter Q. Gresham. (L. S.) 

Imperial Rescript on the New Treaties 

Governing Our realm by the abiding aid of Our 
ancestors' achievements, which have enabled Us to 
secure the prosperity of Our people at home and to 
establish relations of close amity with the nations 
abroad, it is a source of heartfelt gratification to Us that, 
in the sequel of exhaustive planning and repeated nego- 
tiations, an agreement has been come to with the Powers, 
and the revision of the Treaties, Our long cherished aim, 



APPENDIX 361 

is to-day on the eve of becoming an accomplished fact ; 
a result which, while it adds materially to the responsi- 
bilities of Our empire, will greatly strengthen the basis 
of Our friendship with foreign countries. 

It is Our earnest wish that Our subjects, whose 
devoted loyalty in the discharge of their duties is con- 
spicuous, should enter earnestly into Our sentiments in 
this matter, and, in compliance with the great policy 
of opening the country, should all unite with one heart 
to associate cordially with the peoples from afar, thus 
maintaining the character of the nation and enhancing 
the prestige of the empire. 

In view of the responsibilities that devolve upon Us 
in giving effect to the new Treaties, it is Our will that 
Our Ministers of State, acting on Our behalf, should 
instruct Our officials of all classes to observe the utmost 
circumspection in the management of affairs, to the end 
that subjects and strangers alike may enjoy equal 
privileges and advantages, and that, every source of 
dissatisfaction being avoided, relations of peace and 
amity with all nations may be strengthened and con- 
solidated in perpetuity. 

(Imperial Sign Manual.) 

(Signatures of all the Cabinet Ministers.) 

(Dated) June 30th, 1899. 

Schools ik Japan ^ 

"The latest returns compiled by the educational 
authorities show that education in Japan is in a satis- 
factory condition. For instance the percentage of the 
children newly admitted to primary schools throughout 
the country out of every 100 of those who had attained 
the school-going age last month [March, 1903] was 93.78 
for boys, 81.08 for girls, and 88.05 for boys and girls 
1 From the " Japan Times." 



362 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, ETC. 

By the government establishments are meant all institutions under the 
control of the Department of Education. 

Statistical items relating to the Higher Normal School for Females are 





No. OF Schools. 


Instructors and 
Teachers. 




1 


2 


H 
B 







1 

h 


1 


Elementary schools . . 
Blind and dumb schools 
Normal schools . . . 
Higher normal schools 
Middle schools . . . 
Higher female schools 
Higher schools 
Imperial universities . 
Special schools . . . 
Technical schools . . 
Miscellaneous schools . 


2 

1 

2 

1 
1 
7 
2 
3 
9 


26,485 

1 
52 

■ 183 
44 

' ' '4 
265 
122 


369 
9 

' '34 

7 

' "41 

23 

1,195 


26,856 

11 

52 

2 

218 

52 

7 

2 

48 

297 

1,317 


31 
15 

" 110 
22 
19 
345 
291 
128 
238 


91,767 
15 
958 

'3,067 
525 


1,101 

25 

' 65*9 
114 


■ ■ 81 

1,382 

90 


■ 734 

137 

4,273 


Total 


28 


27,156 


1,678 


28,862 


1,199 


97,885 


7,043 


1899 
1898 
1897 
1896 


27 
22 
22 
21 


27,051 
26,799 
26,753 
26,621 


1,639 
1,600 
1,677 
1,762 


28,717 
28,421 
28,452 
28,404 


1,128 
983 
913 
785 


92,286 
86,634 
81,632 

77,720 


6,692 
5,346 
5,310 
5,509 



together, which show respectively an increase of 3.23, 
9.18, and 6.38 against the figures for last year. Again, 
the different schools throughout the country totalled 
29,335, while the teachers totalled 110,104, the attend- 
ance 5,265,006, and the graduates 911,621, representing 
respectively an increase of 473 ; 11,977 ; 339,333 ; and 
112,737 as compared with the figures for the preceding 
year. 



APPENDIX 



363 



IN JAPAN IN 1900-1901.1 

included amongf those for the Higher Normal School, and those relating to 
the three institutes for the training of technical teachers among those for 
technical schools. 





Students and PuPtts. 


Gkaduates. 




1 




1 


1 





1 


1 


1 


92,899 

55 

958 

110 

3,748 

658 

345 

291 

943 

1,757 

4,363 


1,124 
231 

' 803 
321 
306 

5,684 

3,240 
968 

1,730 


4,622,930 

196 

15,639 

' 64,051 
9,746 

' '1,447 
23,599 
4,817 


59,544 

194 

13,943 
1,932 

'l0,985 
2,126 
80,117 


4,683,598 

621 

15,639 

803 

78,315 

11,984 

5,684 

3,240 

13,400 

27,455 

84,934 


318 
14 

'iso 

40 
91 
1,019 
633 
138 
349 


736,907 

8 

7,323 

" 5,584 
1,832 

* ' 210 

4,406 

721 


8,580 
12 

2,16*3 
637 

1,687 

249 

15,783 


745,805 

34 

7,323 

180 

7,787 

2,560 

1,019 

633 

2,035 

5,004 

16,504 


106,127 


14,407 


4,742,425 


168,841 


4,925,673 


2,782 


756,991 


29,111 


788,884 


100,106 
92,963 
87,855 
84,014 


13,230 
11,788 
10,839 
9,321 


4,339,490 
4,086,323 
4,005,164 
3,872,794 


160,614 
149,230 
152,714 
148,858 


4,518,334 
4,247,341 
4,168,717 
4,030,973 


2,454 
2,129 
2,146 
1,819 


655,112 

600,528 
550,738 
507,969 


27,201 
23,486 
20,912 
20,419 


684,767 
626,143 
573,796 
530,207 



Japan's University for Women ^ 

The most remarkable occurrence in Japan in the open- 
ing year of the Twentieth Century was the establish- 
ment of a University for Women. What does this 
mean ? It means that the Twentieth Century is to be 
the century for women in Japan and perhaps in other 
parts of the Orient, just as the Nineteenth Century was 
the century for women in the Occident. This new Uni- 

1 From 28th Annual Eeport of the Minister of State for Education. 

2 Condensed from " The Chautauquan," April, 1902. 



364 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

versity will be the centre of woman's activity, social, 
educational, economical (and perhaps political ?), in the 
future in Japan. 

About ten years ago Mr. Naruse began to think about 
establishing a university for girls and went to America 
to inspect female institutions of learning. There he 
spent three years going about from place to place, and 
thus made a thorough observation and study of colleges 
for women in the United States of America. In 1894 
he was encouraged to start the enterprise, in which his 
special friends were such men as Marquis Ito, Marquis 
Saionji, Counts Okuma and Itagaki, and Baron Utsumi, 
then Mayor of Osaka, now Home Minister. 

Among the first promoters of the enterprise were 
well-to-do persons of Osaka, such as Mr. Dogura and 
Mrs. Hirooka (of the Mitsui family). The idea was, 
and still is, to secure 300,000 yen^ of which half should 
be used for property and half for endowment. It was 
also decided not to begin to build unless at least 100,000 
yen had been raised. The money was obtained quite 
rapidly; and in this Mr. Naruse's skill and tact were 
remarkable. Many not in sympathy with the idea of 
higher female education (like Baron Kato, ex-President 
of the Imperial University), were won over by Mr. 
Naruse's presentation of the cause. 

The problem of location was thoroughly discussed in 
Osaka, and at last it was unanimously agreed that Tokyo, 
being the capital, was the most convenient place, because 
the institution was not local, for either Osaka or Tokyo 
alone, but was national, for all Japan. 

The faculty number forty-six in all, among whom are 
several professors of the Imperial University. The 
President is, of course, Mr. Naruse ; and the Dean is 
Professor S. Aso, a Doshisha alumnus. There are also 
several ladies ; and it is the purpose to have as many 
lady teachers as possible. 



APPENDIX 365 

There are three departments in the University course : 

1. Department of Domestic Science. 

2. Department of Japanese Literature. 

3. Department of English Literature. 

In the first department the greater part of the time 
is devoted to various branches of Applied and Domestic 
Science ; in the second and third departments the largest 
number of hours is given up to Japanese and English 
respectively. Ethics, Sociology, Psychology, Education 
(including Child-Study) and Calisthenics are required 
studies in all departments ; and Drawing, Music, and 
Science of Teaching, are electives in all cases. 

The boarding-department includes seven "Houses," 
each with a matron and a head cook. The girls live just 
as at home, and take turns in cooking. 

This school is not, of course, to be compared with 
foreign universities, or the Imperial University; nor is 
it a copy of other universities; but it is intended to 
make this university just suited to the needs of the 
time and the social conditions of Japanese women. 
The standard will be gradually elevated. In the system 
of female education, it is a university, at least in 
germ. 

It is the purpose as soon as possible to increase the 
number of courses ; to add, for instance, pedagogy (in- 
cluding sociology, psychology, etc.), music, science, art, 
and calisthenics. It is intended also to extend the pre- 
paratory course downward, so that it shall include, not 
a Koto Gakko only as at present, but also a Sho Gakkd 
(Grammar School) and a kindergarten. Thus the sys- 
tem of female education will be complete in all its 
grades : from three to six in the kindergarten ; six years 
in the grammar school; five years in the secondary 
school (Koto Jo Gakko) ; three years in the university ; 
with a post-graduate course of three years. Then surely 
the institution will be worthy to be called a university. 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



Statistics of Christianity in Japan * 

Under tlie title, " The Present State of Christianity," 
the "Tokyo Maishu Shinshi" publishes a number of 
statistics culled from the Rev. D. S. Spencer's "Tidings 
from Japan." Here is the ''Maishu Shinshi's " sum- 
mary of Mr. Spencer's report : 



Missions. 


MlSSION- 


IfATivE Pas- 
tors AND 
Evangelists. 


Mbmbbks. 


Protestant 

Roman Catholic .... 
Greek Church .... 


789 

229 

4 


494 
98 
152 


50,512 
55,824 
27,245 



These figures, when compared with those of ten years 
ago, do not, as far as the Greek Church and the Roman 
Catholic Church are concerned, indicate remarkable 
progress, but to Protestants they are on the whole 
encouraging. There are 23 Protestant denominations 
working in Japan, but the most important sects are the 
Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, 
the Methodists, and the Baptists. The statistics for the 
5 principal missions are as follows : — 



Missions. 


FOBEIGN 

Mission- 
aries. 


Japanese 
Pastors. 


Adult 
Mem- 
bers. 


Including 
Children. 


Baptisms 
Last 
Year. 


Congregational . 
Presbyterian . . 
Episcopalian . . 
Methodist . . . 
Baptist . . . 


71 
153 
224 
233 

56 


45 

79 

47 

125 

9 


10,856 
10,156 
9,968 
9,283 
2,213 


11,548 
11,651 
10,997 
9,711 
2,213 


880 
1,213 

846 
1,598 

328 



1 These statistics, taken from the "Japan Mail" and the 
"Japan Times," do not exactly correspond, but represent the gen- 
eral situation. 



APPENDIX 367 

The following table gives other interesting particulars : 



Missions. 


Chukchss. 


Selp-support- 
iNo Churches. 


Chdrch 

Property. 

Yen. 


Congregational 
Presbyterian . 
Episcopalian . 
Methodist . . 






81 
71 
69 
146 
30 


34 
23 
2 
13 


125,794 
218,252 

225,559 


Baptist . . . 











Missions. 


SUNDAT- 

SCHOOIi 

SCHOLASS. 


Native 
Money Sub- 

SCniBED. 

Yen. 


Amount Pre 
Member. 
Yen. Sen. 


Congregational . . . 
Presbj'terian .... 
Episcopalian .... 

Methodist 

Baptist ...... 


6,880 
7,879 
5,524 
12,613 
3,775 


33,791 
29,027 
15,827 
30,011 
4,283 


3.11 
2.86 
1.59 
3.24 
1.94 



It is calculated that if all the different kinds of property- 
held by the Protestant Church be included, it is worth 
over 1,500,000 yen. 

The Catholic Church in Japan 

A writer signing himself " K. M." contributes to the 
"Fukuin Shimpo " an account of the methods followed by 
the Eoman Catholics and of their work in Japan, said 
to have been derived from an interview with L'Abbe E. 
Ligneul. The following is a summary of *'K. M.'s" 
article. (1) The revival of Roman Catholicism in Japan. 
This began at Nagasaki in 1865, where a church was 
built and when the descendants of the old Christians 
came forward in large numbers to welcome the arrival of 
foreign missionaries. Having mentioned the principal 
works of reference on the Eoman Catholic Missions in 
Japan, M. Ligneul went on to speak (2) Of the present 
state of their churches. The following table gives the 
numerical strength of the mission : — 



368 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



ECCLBBIASTICAL 
DiSTKlCTS. 


CONVBETS. 


Japanese 
Peiests. 


Japanese 
Evangelists. 


FOEBIGN 

(Male). 


Tokyo 

Nagasaki .... 

Osaka 

Hakodate .... 


9,245 
38,160 
4,273 
4,643 


4 

27 
2 

1 


20 
180 
40 
20 


37 
31 
27 
20 


Total .... 


56,321 


34 


260 


115 



The fact that comparatively little is known of the 
work being carried on by the Roman Catholics through- 
out the country is no accidental affair. It is one of the 
principles observed by the whole mission to refrain 
from the use of the methods employed by other missions 
for making their work known to the public generally. 



The Greek Church in Japan 

In the issue of the " Tserkovniya Vyedomosti " or 
"Church Gazette" (the official organ of the Russian 
Church) for March 29 (0. S.) there is a long article 
taken from the ''Moscow Gazette" on the state of the 
Greek Church in Japan. 

The writer says that there are now 260 congregations, 
one more than last year ; 41 clergymen, including 1 
bishop, 2 Russian clergymen (who have now left Japan 
— Translator), 30 Japanese clergymen, 1 Russian dea- 
con, 7 Japanese deacons : altogether three more persons 
than last year ; Christians 27,245 (935 more than last 
year ) ; Catechists 1,214 (643 adults, 571 minors, al- 
together 305 more than last year) ; deaths 279 (18 less 
than last year) ; marriages 29 (9 more than last year); 
churches or preachers' houses 174. The sum of the 
offerings made by the Christians in support of their 
church totalled 11,870 yen 41.8 sen, 4,505 yen 72.5 sen 



APPENDIX 369 

more than last year. The nuraber of pupils in Mission 
schools totalled 152, 12 less than last year. 



The annual meeting of clergy (Shinpin Kwaigi) of 
the Greek Church Mission was held in the cathedral 
of that mission in Tokyo on the 15th inst. It was 
reported at the meeting that there were 1,037 converts 
last year, deaths 320 ; and now that the members of 
the church number 27,956, including 40 clergymen and 
146 denkiosha (preachers or unordained evangelists and 
helpers) . 

Japan's National Song* 

Few Europeans have learned to detect and enjoy the 
subtle beauty of Japanese poetry. Fewer still, perhaps, 
are acquainted with the delicate charm of the little poem 
which, although not a hymn, takes the place in Japanese 
minds and hearts of the Briton's "God Save the King," 
or the American's "My Country, 'tis of Thee." It is 
sung to a native air, the custom being to sing the poem 
through thrice, and when thus rendered by a large and 
enthusiastic company it is often truly impressive. The 
poem itself is very old, being found in the " Manyoshiu," 
which dates from about the middle of the eighth century, 
and its author is unknown. As originally composed, it 
was not addressed to the actual ruler, but in all prob- 
ability to an Emperor who had gone into retirement. 
Now, however, it is exclusively applied to the reigning 
Sovereign. The poem consists of the usual number of 
thirty-one syllables, and runs as follows : — 

Kimi ga yo wa 
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni 
Sazare ishi no 
Iwao to narite 
Koke no musu made. 

1 From the " Kobe Herald." 



370 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

So far as we are aware only two English translations 
have been published. One of these is by Viscount 
Fukuba, and, closely following the original, reads as 
follows : 

" May our Sovereign live for thousands and ten thousands 
of years, until the tiny pebble becomes a moss-covered rock." 

The other, by Professor Chamberlain, is more finished 
but less literal than the foregoing, and is included in his 
excellent " Classical Poetry of the Japanese " : — 

" A thousand years of happy life be thine ! 
Live on. My lord, till what are pebbles now, 
By age united, to great rocks shall grow, 
Whose venerable sides the moss doth line." 

To the above translations may be added a third by the 
late Dr. Gordon : — 

" O Prince upon the throne I 
Ten thousand years live on, 
Till pebbles shall great rocks become 
With moss all overgrown ! " 

Floral Japan 
The Japanese are a nature-loving people, and frequently 
give practical expression to their feelings by taking a 
holiday simply for " flower-viewing." At the proper 
season the entire nation, so to speak, takes a day off, 
and turns out on a big picnic to see the plum blossoms, 
or the cherry blossoms, or the maples, or the chrysan- 
themums. No utilitarian views of the value of time or 
miserly conceptions of the expense of such outings pre- 
vail for a moment ; for the Japanese are worshippers 
of beauty rather than of the " almighty dollar." A few 
pennies on such occasions bring many pleasures ; and 
business interests are sacrificed at the shrine of beauty. 
And, as one or more flowers are blooming every month, 
because twigs, leaves, grasses, etc., are included in the 



APPENDIX 371 

scope of the word liana, there is almost a continuous 
round of such picnics during the year. It is our pur- 
pose, therefore, to arrange a calendar of flowers popular 
each month. 

At the very outset we are confronted with a chrono- 
logical difficulty in presenting this subject to Western 
readers. For the programme of Japanese floral festivals 
was originally arranged on the basis of the old lunar 
calendar so long in vogue in Japan. By that calendar 
the New Year came in at varying dates from about the 
21st of January up to the 19th of February ; in 1903 it 
fell on Thursday, January 29 ; so that it is from three to 
seven weeks behind the Occidental solar calendar. And 
yet, when Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, many 
of these festivals were transferred to the. "New Style " 
without regard to the awful anachronism that necessarily 
followed. 

For instance, the following is a floral programme accord- 
ing to the " Old Style " : — 

Old Sttle. New Style. 

1st month, February Pine. 

2d " March Plum. 

3d ■' April Cherry. 

4th " May Wistaria. 

5th " June Iris. 

6th " July Tree peony. 

7th " August Lespedeza. 

8th " September Eularia. 

9th " October Chrysanthemum. 

10th " November Maple. 

11th " December Willow. 

12th " January Paulo wnia. 

Now, the pine is chosen for the 1st month (0. S.) on 
account of the prominent part that it plays in the New 
Year's decorations, but when the new year begins the 
first of January, that calendar suffers serious dislocation, 
because all of the other flowers cannot be moved a 
whole month. 



372 



A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 



A similar confusion arises in connection with the 
great festival of the "autumn full moon," in which 
certain grasses also figured. By the lunar calendar it 
fell about the 15th day of the 8th month, which never 
comes in the Western 8th month, August. It came in 
1902 on September 18 ; and 1903 it will not come until 
early in October ! It may now be readily seen how 
difficult it is in Japan to run on schedule time ! 

But, taking all these difficulties into consideration, 
and harmonizing them so far as possible, we have been 
able to construct the following modern Japanese floral 
calendar : — 



January . 


. Pine. 


July . . 


. Morning-glory. 


February . 


. Plum, 


August . 


. Lotus. 


March. . 


. Peach. 


September 


. " Seven Grasses.' 


April . . 


. Cherry. 


October . 


. Chrysanthemum 


Mav . . 


. Wistaria. 


November 


. Maple. 


June . . 


. Iris. 


December 


. Camellia. 



Japan and Siam^ 

Mr. Inagaki, Japanese Kepresentative in Bangkok, 
has been making strenuous efforts to bring about the 
establi.'shment of a direct line of steamers between Japan 
and Siam. He maintains that there cannot be any 
substantial development of trade without some improve- 
ment of the means of communication. Tokyo newspapers 
report that the Osaka Shosen Kaisha has been induced 
to undertake the extension of its Formosan line to 
Siam, and that arrangements are now under discussion 
with the Formosan officials. 

In a lecture delivered by Mr. Inagaki before the 
Japan Economic Society, he insisted that Siam could 
be of the greatest service to Japan in supplying raw 
materials and food stuffs. Her production of sugar, 
hemp, and gum is very large, and whereas her export 

1 From the " Japan Mail." 



APPENDIX 373 

of silk ten years ago was only 250,000 yen, it is now 
10 millions. The Siamese government has decided to 
devote a quarter of a million yen to agricultural experi- 
mental stations, and there can be no doubt that if Japan 
sent seeds of raw materials to be grown in that country, 
fine results would be obtained. It is important that a 
country like Japan should have a source of supply which 
would certainly remain neutral in time of war, and Siam 
is essentially such a source. This question of food 
supply will one day be as important for Japan as it is 
already for England, and its solution seems to lie in 
the direction of Siam. 

Formosa undeb Japan 

Concerning Formosa under Japanese rule the follow- 
ing additional items are worthy of notice. 

It has been pointed out by the " Japan Mail " that 
the revenue of the new territory in the first six years 
after its cession to Japan has increased by 600 per cent, 
as shown in the following table : — 

Yen. 

1896 2,710,000 

1897 5,320,000 

1898 8,250,000 

1899 11,750,000 

1900 14,900,000 

1901 16,370,000 



The number of the pest patients in Formosa has been 
decreasing year after year, as the following returns for 
the period January 1 to June 17 of the respective years 
show : — 

Cases. Mortality. 

1901 3,481 2,619 

1902 1,795 1,352 

1903 750 606 



The government is making strenuous efforts to increase 
the export trade. It has subsidized a modern sugar- 



374 A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN 

mill which has commenced operations in South Formosa, 
manufacturing brown sugar for refining purposes ; it 
has likewise given assistance to a white-sugar factory ; 
it has started an experimental paper-factory ; in fact, it 
has devoted all its energies toward increasing the island's 
productions. Independent Japanese firms have likewise 
done a good deal, though not as much as we had reason 
to anticipate. Two gold-quartz mills, one being of con- 
siderable size, are successfully at work in the Formosaii 
gold fields ; two wealthy companies are engaged in plan- 
tation work on a large scale in Southeast and in North 
Formosa ; and there is a glass-factory in the north, 
several Japanese-owned coal-mines, a paper-factory at 
Kagi, several modern salt farms, and other small indus- 
tries, to Japanese credit. In improving transportation, 
the Japanese have done much, and are planning to do 
much more. The Chinese railway line was handed over 
to the Japanese in such a condition that it had to be 
all reconstructed. "We thus have practically a new line 
to Kelung and another to Shinchiku (formerly Tecko- 
ham). In addition to these, new lines were constructed 
from Taihoku to Tamsui, and from Takow to Shinyeisho 
via Tainan-fu, which gives a total of 93 miles of rail. 
The trunk line connecting the north and south is now 
in course of construction. The Japanese have also built 
over 200 miles of narrow gauge for the temporary trans- 
port of military supplies, general freight, and passengers. 
Nearly a thousand miles of ordinary road have been 
constructed.^ 



Eev. W. Campbell, a Scotch missionary in Formosa, 
testifies concerning what Japan has accomplished in the 
island : — 

At the outset it should be remembered that, when 

1 U. S. Consul Davidson. 



APPENDIX 375 

they [Japanese] arrived in 1895, instead of being allowed 
to take quiet possession, they found the people every- 
where up in arms against thein, and had literally to fight 
their way from north to south before anything like 
settled government could be established. . . . Immedi- 
ately after some measure of peace had been restored, the 
executive sent out qualified experts to engage in survey 
work and to report on the resources of their newly ceded 
territory. 

A complete census of the population was taken in 
1897, 800 miles of roads were made, and a tramway line 
laid down from Takow to Sin-tek. This was followed 
by construction of the main line of railway from Kelung 
to Takow, about one-half of which has already been 
opened for goods and passenger traffic. Three cables 
were also laid down, connecting Formosa with Japan, 
Foochow, and the Pescadores, and over the existing 1,500 
miles of telegraph and telephone wires immediate com- 
munication has been made possible with every important 
inland centre. The post offices recently opened in For- 
mosa number over a hundred, and letters can now be 
sent to any part of the empire for two cents each. Up 
till the close of 1899, 122 government educational insti- 
tutions had been established, only 9 of those being for 
Japanese, and 113 for natives. There are at present 10 
principal Government hospitals in the island, at which 
about 60,000 patients are treated gratuitously every year, 
while sanitary precautions and free vaccination have 
become so general that the danger from visitations like 
small-pox and plague has been very much reduced. 



INDEX 



Abdication, practice of, 90, 97 

Aborigines, 44 

Academy of Music, Tokyo, 217 

Acrobats, 66 

Actors' guild, 27 

Adams, Will, 91 

" Advance Japan," 15, 28, 59, 117, 132, 

158, 208 
Agricultural College, see Sapporo 

Agricultural College 
Agricultural College in China, 297 
Agricultural experiment stations, 373 
Agriculture, 16-22, 216, 312 
Ainu, 44, 45 
" Ainu of Japan," 45 
Akashi, 8 
Alaska, 15 
Alcock, 117 
Ale, 56 

Aleutian Islands, 15 
Almonds, 313 

Amaterasu, see Sun-goddess 
America, 2, 3, 7, 14, 20, 21, 28, 34, 37, 

55, 61, 106, 112, 140, 145, 189, 213, 

219, 220, 237, 268, 270, 271, 281, 

285, 290, 292, 299-301 
American baby, first, 60 
American books, favorite, 204 
"American Journal of Sociology," 

175 
American life, 80 
" American Missionary in Japan, An," 

190, 269 
American State legislature, 135 
Americans, 33, 36, 47, 66, 79, 104, 

107, 144, 165, 168, 210, 216 
Amoy, 295 
Amusements, 66-69 
Ancestors, worship of, 64 
" Ancient Matters, Records of," 92 



Anderson, 235 

" Andover Review," 259 

Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 4, 92, 147, 

153, 154, 156, 157, 299 
Anglo-Saxon influence, 157 
Anglo-Saxon town meeting, 142 
Anglo-Saxons, 128, 168 
Animals, see names of animals 
" Annals of the American Academy of 

Political and Social Science," 129 
Anti-Christian edicts removed, 91, 

111, 112 
Anti-foreign reaction, 92, 114, 115 
Antimony, 23 
Aomori, 17, 32 
Aoyama, Dr., 220 
Apples, 19, 314 
Apricots, 19 
Architecture, 51, 91 
Area, 5, 7 
"Arena," 95 
Arima, 8 
Arita ware, 229 
Armor, 230 
Army, 126, 147-151; statistics, 343- 

344 
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 78, 253 
Arsenal, 149, 150, 286 
" Art Japonais, L'," 235, 236 
Artisans, 48, 82 
"Artistic Japan," 236 
"Artist's Letters from Japan, An," 

236 
Arts, fine, 91, 222-236 
Arts, mechanical, 24, 25 
Aryans, 45 
Asama, 8 

Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 233 
Ashikaga period, 98, 99 
Ashikaga supremacy, 91 
Asia, 14, 149, 156, 281, 292, 294, 301 
"Asia, the key of," 4 



378 



INDEX 



Asia, Eastern, supremacy of Japan in, 
299, 300 

"Asiatic Loch Lomond," 8 

Asiatic Society of Japan, Transac- 
tions, 20, 22, 43, 54, 61, 62, 71, 83, 
89, 92, 101, 132, 133, 145, 159, 174, 
199, 208, 231, 249, 255, 259, 261 

Aso, Prof. S., 364 

Aso, Mount, 8 

Aston, W. G., 50, 92, 208, 232, 236 

Atami, 8 

Athletics, 66 

" Atlantic Monthly," 302 

Atsu, Prince, 123 

Audslej--, G. A., 235, 236 

Australasia, 281 

Australia, 34, 45 

Austria, 85 

Automobiles, 31, 34 

Autumn, Japanese, 12 

"Awakening of the East, The," 28, 
158 

Ayrton, Mrs. Chaplin, 66 



B 



Babylon, 300 

Bacon, Miss Alice M., 59, 75, 189, 
190, 221 

Badgers, 13 

Baelz, Dr., 46, 47 

Baggage, 29 

Baggage check system, American, 33 

Bakan, 9 

Ballard, Miss, 70 

Ballard, Walter J., 318 

Bamboo, 13, 22, 74 

Bananas, 19 

Bandai, Mount, 8, 113 

Bank of Formosa, 38 

Bank of Japan, 38, 39, 92, 170 ; organ- 
ized, 113 

Banks, national, 38; see also specific 
names 

Banks, private, 38 

Banks, savings, 38, 39 

Baptists, 264, 272, 366, 367 

Barbers' guild, 27 

Barley, 19, 26, 55 



Base-ball, 66 

Bastiat's "Science of Finance," 206 

Batchelor, J., 45 

Bathing, 58, 59 

Baths, 58, 59 

Battledore and shuttlecock, 66 

Battleships, see Warships 

Bays, 9 

Beans, 19, 37, 55 

Bear, 13 

Beechej', Cap'., (05 

Beef, 54 

Beer, 56 

Beer bi-ewing, 24 

Beets, 19 

Beggars, 48 

Beggars' guild, 27 

Bellows, U. S. Consul, 313 

Bettelheim, Dr., 105 

Bevan,J. R.,236 

Bicycle boats, 85 

Bicycles, 31, 34, 280, 281 

Biddle, Commodore, 105 

Bimetallism, 92, 111 

Bing, S., 236 

Bird, Miss, see Bishop, Mrs. Isabella 

Bird 
Birds, 13 

Birth and birthdays, 60, 61 
Bishop, Mrs. Isabella Bird, 15, 43, 45 
Biwa Lake, 8 
Bizen ware, 229 
BIack,J. R.,n7, 200 
Blind, 217 
"Blossom," 105 
"Blue-jacket Spirit," 152 
Boar, 13 
Boatmen, 30 
Boats, 29, 31; see also Row-boats, 

Steamboats 
Boissonade, M., 161 
Bonin Islands, 34 
Books, 197, 203 
Bowes, J. L., 235 
Boxer troubles, 115, 146, 153 
Bramhall, Mrs., 60, 75, 221 
Brick industry, 24 
Bricklayers' guild, 27 
Brinkley, Captain, 231-233, 235 
Brinkley's Dictionary, 208 



INDEX 



379 



British, 7, 66 

British Columbia, 14 

Brothels, 166, 167, 271 

Buckwheat, 19 

Buddha, 253-255, 260 ; statue of, 

2S8 
Buddha's birthday, 74 
Buddhism, 48, 54^ 90, 96, 99, 177, 224, 

237, 251-260, 269, 288 
Buddhist ceremonies, 62 
Buddhist education, 209 
Buddhist festivals, 63, 65 
Buddhist periodicals, 203 
Buddhist philosophy, 198 
Buddhist priests, 224, 258 
Buddhist temples, 65, 166, 240, 243, 

253, 258 
Buffalo, N. y., 37 
Bus, see Omnibus 
Bushido, 251-252 
"Bushido, the Soul of Japan," 89, 

239, 252, 261 
Business ability of Japanese, 39-42, 

82-83 
"Business men's party," 131 
Butter, 37 
Button industry, 24 
Byron, Lord, 204 



Cabinet, 124, 130, 143, 337, 338 
Cabinet reconstruction, 113, 114 
Cabinets, Japanese and United States 

compared, 125 
California, 5, 14, 37 
Camellia, 372 
Camellia trees, 12 
Campbell, W., 374 
Camphor, 37 
Camphor trees, 12, 21 
Canadian Pacific steamship line, 3 
Candles, 37 
Canning industry, 22 
Canton river, 14 
Capital punishment, 162 
Capitals of Japan, 91, 96, 97 
Cards, 66 
Carpenters' guild, 27 



Carpenters, wages of, 26 

Carriage, 281 

Carrots, 19 

Cary, Otis, 89, 212, 249, 259, 276 

"Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese 
Paintings in the British Museum," 
235 

" Catalogue of the Morse Collection 
of Japanese Potter3'," 235 

Cats, 13 

Caucasians, 45 

Cedar trees, 12 

Cemeteries, 258, 259 

Central America, 291 

Chamberlain, B. H., 15, 22, 45, 58, 
75, 86, 92, 152, 161, 192, 197, 199, 
208, 222, 236, 252, 256, 370 

Chang Chih-tung, Viceroy, 297 

Cha-no-Yu, see Tea-ceremonial 

Characteristics of the people, 46-50, 
76-89 

"Charter Oath," 91, 110-112, 118 

"Chantauquan, The," 211, 363 

Cherry flowers, 65, 79, 370-372 

Cherry trees, 13 

Chess, 66 

Chestnuts, 19 

Chicago, 3, 11, 37, 38 

Chickens, 13, 54, 56 

"Child-Life in Japan," 66 

Children, 181, 182 

China, 4, 5, 14, 21, 34, 35, 37, 42, 92, 
96, 99, 103, 106, 115, 143, 146, 149, 
150, 153, 154, 157, 221, 224, 237, 
250, 255, 285, 287, 291, 292, 294- 
299, 301 ; tribute to, 91 ; war with, 
92, 115 ; Japanese influence in, 294- 
298 

Chinese, 7, 85, 94, 100, 105, 143, 144, 
178, 198, 281, 297, 298 

Chinese art, 224 

Chinese Empire, 157 

Chinese ideographs, 193, 194, 207, 220, 
227 

Chinese government service, 297 

Chinese language, 209 

Chinese literature, 90, 208, 209, 296 

Chinese play, 290 

" Chinese Recorder," 297 

Chinese zodiac, 71 



380 



INDEX 



Cholera, 10 

Chop-sticks, 55 

Choshiu, Clan of, 109 

Christian home, 177 

Christian literature, 265, 266 

Christian periodicals, 203 

Christianity, 48, 61, 71, 91, 99, 100, 
107, 111, 156-158, 167, 177, 190, 219, 
237, 240, 242, 243, 247-249, 253, 256, 
259, 276, 286-288; statistics, 366- 
369 ; see also Anti-christian 

Christmas, 66 

Chromoxylography, see Color print- 
ing 

" Chronicle," 201 

" Chronicles of Japan," 92 

Chrysanthemum Festival, 64, 65 

Chrysanthemums, 370-372 

"Chrysanthemums, War of the," 91, 
99 

Churches, 91, 110, 111, 267, 268, 
287 

ChQzenji, 8 

Chuzenji, Lake, 8 

Cire perdue process, 230 

Cities, opening of, 91 

Citizen (Jcomin), 138-140 

City council, 140, 141 

Civil Code, see Code, Civil 

Civil war, 91, 104, 109, 110 

"Classical Poetry of the Japanese," 
236, 370 

Clearing-houses, 316 

Climate, 5, 6, 11, 12 

Cloisonn(5, 230 

Coal, 23, 37, 41, 42, 152, 292, 295, 
298 

Coast line, 5, 9, 10 

Cocoa, 37 

Code, Civil, 61, 114-116, 176, 178, 
180-182, 190 

Code, Commercial, 38, 114, 115, 161 

Code, Criminal, 161 

Code, Napoleon, 161 

Code, Penal, 113, 114 

Code of Civil Procedure, 161 

Code of Criminal Procedure, 113, 114, 

161 
Codes, new, 92 
Co-education, 211 



Coffins, 62 

Coins, 39 

Collotype, 227 

Colonial Bank of Hokkaido, 38 

Color printing, 227 

Columbia University, 296 

" Commentaries on the Constitution of 

the Empire of Japan," 132 
Commerce, 36, 37, 39-43; see also 
Treaty of commerce and naviga- 
tion 
Commercial centre, 291 
Commercial Code, see Code, Commer- 
cial 
Compulsory school attendance, 212 

Conder, , 54, 236 

" Conflict of Christianity with Heath- 
enism," 275 
Confucian education, 209 
Confucian influences, 91 
Confucian philosophy, 198 
Confucianism, 48, 96, 100, 101, 237, 

250-252, 260 
Congregationalists, 264, 366, 367 
"Congressional Work," 183 
Constantine, 248, 275 
Constitution, 92, 113, 114, 120-122, 

124, 127, 128, 132, 150, 273, 287 
" Constitutional Development of 

Japan," 111, 132, 145 
" Constitutional Government in 
Japan," 129 

Continental influences, 90 

Convicts, 162 

Cooking, European, 56 

Cooks', European-style, union, 27 

Coolies, 29, 31, 32, 282 

Coolies' guild, 27 

Co-operative stores, 27, 28 

Copper, 23, 37, 41 

Copper pieces, see Coins 

Cornstarch, 37 

Corporal punishment, 212 

Costumes, see Dress 

Cotton, 21, 37 

Cotton-mills, 21, 286 

Cotton-spinning, 21 

Cotton velvet, 37 

Counsel, 163, 164 

Couriers, 29, 35, 281 



INDEX 



381 



Courts, 163-165 
Cream, evaporated, 37 
Credit Mobilier, 38 
Crimes, 162 
Criminal law, 160, 161 
Criminals, 163 
Currency, 39 
Curtis, W. E., 28, 43, 56, ( 

Curtius, , 107 

Customs, 60-75 



D 



132, 174 



231-233: see also 



Dai Nihon Shi, 101 
Dalrymple, 17 
Damascus, 230 
Dancing, 

No 

Dancing-girls, 69 
Dan-no-ura, Battle of, 98 
Darwin's "Origin of Species," 204 
Davidson, U, S. Consul, 21, 143, 145, 

374 
Days, special, lucky or unlucky, 71-75 
Deaf, 217 
Death, 62 
Deer, 13 

Deme Jikan, 228 
Dening, Prof., 86, 89 
Deportation, 162 

Development, internal, 104, 113, 114 
"Dial, The," Chicago, 204, 206, 208 
"Diamond edition of humanity," 47 
" Diary of a Japanese Convert," 265 
Dickens, F. V., 236, 303 
Dining-cars, 33 
Diosy, Arthur, 39, 117, 145, 151, 152, 

156, 158 
Disciples, 264 
Divisions, 5, 6 

Divorce, 61, 177, 179, 180, 181 
Dixon, W. G., 109, 117 
Dock coolies, see Coolies 
Docks, 110, 111, 286 
Dockyards, 91 
Dogs, 13 
Dogura, , 364 



Dolls, 66 

Dolls' festival, 61, 64, 65 

Doshisha, 215 

Dowie, J. A., 264 

Drama, 233 

Dress, 56-59, 284 

Duarchy, 97 

Dumb, 217 

Dutch, 91, 100, 105, 106, S 

Dutch language, 285 

Dyeing, 24 



E 



"Earthquake, The Great," see Cabi- 
net reconstruction 

Earthquakes, 8, 10, 51, 88, 106; see 
also Gifu earthquake 

Earthquakes, Professor of, 216 

Easter, 66 

Eastlake, , 117, 158, 283 

Ebara, Mr., 274 

Editors, 201 

Education, 47, 209-221, 285 

"Educational Conquest of the Far 
East, The," 221 

Edwards, , 68 

Egg-plants, 19 

Eggs, 26, 55, 56, 60 

Egypt, 48 

Election, First National, 114 

Election, first under Constitution of 
1889, 127 

Electoral franchise, extension of, 115, 
116 

Electric cars, 34, 281 

Electric lights, 31, 36 

Electric railways, 31 

Electrical apparatus manufactories, 
286 

Elgin, Lord, 106, 107 

"Elizabethan Age," 97 

Elocution, 195 

Embroidery, 24, 231 

Emperors and Empresses, chronologi- 
cal table, 336, 337 

Emperors of China, see name of Em- 
peror 

Empire, New, 01 



INDEX 



Empress of Japan, 111, 188, 280 

Empresses and Emperors, chronologi- 
cal table, 336, 337 

Enamelling, 230 

"Encyclopedia Britannica," 204 

Engi era, 332 

Engine works, 286 

Engineering, 23 

Engineers, American, 32 

England, 37, 61, 85, 93, 300, 373 

English, 91, 145 

"English-Japanese Etymologr," 208 

English language, 113", 195, 201, 211, 
219, 285, 298 

English normal school, 186 

Epicureanism, 79, 81 

Epidemics, 10 

Episcopalians, 264, 272, 366, 367 

Eularia, 371 

Europe, 3, 34, 112, 156, 189, 213, 237, 
281, 290, 292, 299, 301 

European books, favorite, 204 

European languages, 220 

Europeans, 47 

Evangelical alliance, 271 

" Evolution of the Japanese, The," 89 

Exports, 36, 37 



Factories, 314-315 

"Fairy Tales from Far Japan," 70 

Family, Japanese, 50, 51 

Fan industry, 24 

Farmers, 16, 17, 18, 48, 82, 248, 283 

Farms, 17-19 

Fenollosa, E. F., 23' 

"Feudal and Modern Japan," 59, 89, 

101, 132, 208, 249 
Feudalism, 91, 110, 112, 119, 133, 134, 

332 
Figs, 19, 313 

Filial piety, 87, 166, 176, 250 
Fillmore, Millard, 102, 106 
Financial situation, present, 42 
Finck, H. T., 15, 59, 89 
Fine Arts School, Tokyo, 217 
Fireflies, 285 

Fire-Shine and Fire-Fade, Princes, 90 
Fish, 13, 26, 55, 56 



Fisheries, 294 

Fishermen, 22, 248 

Fisher's "Universal History," 205 

Fishing, 22, 23 

Flag, first foreign, officially raised, 107 

Flag, Imperial, 5 

Flags, Feast of the, 61, 64, 65 

Flags, red and white, wars of, 91 

Fleas, 10 

Florenz, Dr., 249 

Flour, 37 

Flower arrangement, 233, 234 

Flower festivals, 65, 371 

"Flower-viewing," 370 

Flowers, 370-372; see also specific 
names 

"Flowers of Japan and the Art of 
Floral Arrangement, The," 236 

Folk-lore, 70 

"Folk-Lorist," 70 

Food, 54-56, 284 

Foreign Language School, Tokyo, 217 

Foreign trade, 330 

Foreigners, status of, 170-174 

Formosa, Island of, 3, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16, 
21, 30, 04, 91, 92, 111, 115, 142-144, 
220, 295, 309 ; under Japan, 373-375 

Formosan Bank, 295 

Foxes, 13 

France, 37, 85, 164, 278, 290 

Freight, 29, 30 

Freight carts, 31 

French language, 211, 285 

French people, 264 

Friends, 264, 272 

Froebel, Friedrich, 214 

" From Far Formosa," 276 

Fruit, see specific names 

Fruit-growing, 313-314 

Fuchow, 294, 295, 375 

Fuji, Mount, 8 

Fujiwara bureaucracy, 91 

Fujiwara epoch, 97 

Fujiwara family established in re- 
gency, 91 

Fukuba, Viscount, 370 

Fukuzawa, Mr., 184, 185, 215 

Fukwai, 135-138 

Funeral ceremonies, 62 

Furniture, 52, 53 



IISTDEX 



383 



G 

Gamblers' guild, 27 

Game, 54 

Games, 66 

Gardens, 17, 53, 54 

Gas, 36 

Geisha, see Dancing-girls 

Genroku era, 332 

German language, 211, 285 

German liberals, 264 

Germany, 37, 85, 122, 145, 147, 300; 

aud Japan, 300 
" Geschichte des Japanischen Farben- 

holzschnitts," 235 
Gifu earthquake, 92, 114 
Ginko or Salisburia, 313 
Ginza, the, 26 
"Gist of Japan, The," 15, 89, 249, 

276 
Glass-blowing, 24 
" Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan," 43, 

54,65 
Glyptic art, 227 
Go, 66 
Goats, 13 
Goethe's "Faust," 204 

Gob, , 50 

Gokinai, 6 

Gold, 23, 27, 41 

Gold coins, see Coins 

Gold standard, 39, 92, 115, 116 

Golownin, , 104 

Gonse, , 235, 236 

Gordon, Captain, 104 

Gordon, Dr., 190, 276, 370 

"Gospel ship," 267, 287 

Goto family, 230 

Government, colonial, in Formosa, 

143, 144 
Government, Constitutional, 113, 116 ; 

and Liberals, alliance between, 1]5 
Government ownership, 33 
Governor, 136-138 
Governors, assembly of, 91, 111 
Graeco-Roman mythology, 95 
"Grammar of the Japanese Written 

Language," 208 
Grant, U. S., 113, 331 
Grapes, 19, 313 



Grave-diggers, 48 

Great Britain, 4, 37, 146, 147, 153- 

157 
Greece, 248, 300 
Greek chorus, 68 
Greek church, 263, 366, 368, 369 
Greek language, 211, 285 
Greene, D.C., 259 
Gregorian calendar, 64, 91, 103, 111, 

112, 371 
Gribble, D. C, 20 
Griffin, Professor, 342 
Griffis, Dr., 18, 43, 59, 71, 73, 75, 99, 

101, 117, 206, 208, 241, 242, 249, 

252, 256, 257, 276 
" Grippe, La," 10 
Guam, 299 
Guano deposits, 6 
Gubbins,J. H.,161, 176, 178, 182 
Guilds, 27 
Gulf Stream, 11 
Gulick, S. L., 89 

Gumma Prefecture, Governor of, 138 
Gunboat, United States, 23 
Guncotton, 85 
Gunpowder, smokeless, 85 



Hachiman, god of war, 90, 96 
Hachisuka, Marquis, 188 
Hades, God of, 74 

Haga, , 261 

Hakodate, 9, 107, 368 

Hakone, 8, 37 

Hakone Lake, 8 

Hakuchi era, 332 

Hakuseki, Aral, 210 

Ham, 54 

Hamaoka, 39 

Hamath, 46 

" Hand-Book for Japan," 15 

" Hand-Book of Colloquial Japanese, 

208 
Hand-carts, 31 
Handkerchief industrj', 24 
Hangchau, China, 297 
Hara, Mr., 168 



384 



INDEX 



Harbors , 9 

Hardy, Thomas, 204 

Hare, 13 

Harris, Townsend, 106, 107, 117 

Hartshorne, Miss, 15, 43, 59, 75 

Haru, Prince, 92, 113, 115, 123, 188, 

211 
Harunobu, 227 
Hawaii, 3, 7, 35, 299 
Hearn, Lafcadio, 43, 54, 65, 75, 77, 

89, 190, 238, 249 
Hebrew, 285 
Heco, Joseph, 200 
Heine, Heinrich, 204 
"Herald," 201 
Herbart, J. F., 205 
" Heroic Japan," 117, 158, 283 
Hideyoshi, 91, 99 
Hildreth, Richard, 101 
Hirooka, Mrs. Asa, 186, 187, 364 
Hirooka, Shingoro, 186 
Hiroshima, 148 
Hirth, Dr., 296 

"Histoire de I'Art du Japan," 235 
History (Old Japan), 90-101 
I. Divine Ages, 94 
n. Prehistoric Period, 94-96 

III. Imperialistic Period, 96-97 

IV. Civil Strife, 97-100 

V. Tokugawa Feudalism, 100-101 
History (New Japan), 102-117 

I. Period of Seclusion, 104-106 
H. Period of Treaty-Making, 106- 

107 
lU. Period of Civil Commotions, 

107-110 
IV. Period of Reconstruction, 110- 
112 
V. Period of Internal Develop- 
ment, 113-114 
VI. Period of Constitutional Gov- 
ernment, 114-117 
Historv and mythology, outline, 90- 

92 
"History of Japanese Literature," 

208, 232, 236 
"History of Japanese Political Par- 
ties," 132 
"History of Protestant Missions in 
Japan," 276 



"History of the Empire of Japan," 

101 
"History of the Twelve Japanese 

Buddhist Sects," 253 
Hittites, 46 
Hizen ware, 229 
Hoang-Ho river, 14 
Hojo farailj-, 98 
Hojo tyranny, 91 
Hokkaido, 5, 6, 9, 17,42, 142, 143, 292, 

309 ; see also Yezo 
Hokurikudo, 6 
Hokusai, 227 
Holidays, 63-66 
Holland, 37 
Holme, Charles, 22 
" Honda the Samurai," 75 
Hondo, 5, 6 

Hongkong, 33, 35, 37, 317 
Honolulu, 3 
Horse-cars, 31, 34, 281 
Horses, 13, 24 
Hours, 72-73 
House, E. H., 117 
House of Commons, 119, 126, 130 
House of Peers, 126, 128, 130, 338, 339 
Houses of Japanese, 51-53, 284 
Hugo's " Les Miserables," 204 

Huish, , 22, 222, 229, 236 

"Hundred Poems," 199 
Hyogo see Kobe 



Ice industry, 24 

"Ichijiku," 266 

" Ideals of the East, The," 224 

Iga ware, 229 

li. Prime Minister, assassinated, 107, 

108 
Ikao, 8 
Illinois, 37 
Imari ware, 229 
Imbrie, 208 

Imitation, Japanese ability for, 41, 85 
Imperial Court, 278, 296 
Imperial Diet, 18, 36, 92, 114, 122, 

126-128, 130, 165, 207, 212, 247 
Imperial family, 48, 93 



INDEX 



385 



Imperial Guard, 149 

Imperial Librarj-, see Library, Im- 
perial 

Imperial Eescript, 212, 360-361 

Imperial University, see University, 
Imperial 

Imperialism, 91,96-97, 101, 118-132 

Imperialistic period, 90 

Imports, 36, 37 

" lu the Mikado's Service," 75 

Inagaki, Mr., 372 

Inari Sama. 248 

Incomes, see Wages and incomes 

India, 14, 21, 34, 37, 45, 48, 301 

Indigo, 17 

Industrial and commercial Japan, 17- 
28, 39-42, 183 

Industrial Bank, 38 

" Industries of Japan, The," 28, 231, 
235 

Inland Sea, 10, 267, 287 

Inouye, Jukichi, 74 

" Intercourse between the United 
States and Japan," 117 

International Oil Company, 36 

International Postal Union, 35 

Invention, Japanese ability for, 41, 85 

Inventions, 85 

Investment, foreign, 40-42 

Iris, 65, 371, 372 

Irishman, 247 

Iron, 23, 37, 42, 295 

Iron foundries, 286 

Iron-workers' union, 27 

Ise, shrine at, 167, 243 

Ishigami, Dr., 220 

Ishikari river, 9 

Ishikawajima, 317 

"Island of Formosa, The," 21, 143 

Itagaki, Count, 119, 131, 364 

Italian, 285 

Ito, Marquis, 40, 120, 131, 132, 343, 
304 

Iwakura, Prince, 188 

Iwakura Embassy, 110, 112 

lyemochi, Shogun, 108, 109 

Iyena,'2:a, 111, 132, 145 

lyenari, Shogun, 280 

lyeyasu, Shogun, 91, 99, 100 

lyeyoshi, Shogun, 105 



Izanagi, 90, 95 
Izanami, 90, 95 
Izumo, 94 
Izumo ware, 229 



" Japan," 15, 59, 89, 101, 208, 249 
"Japan : Its History, Arts, and Liter- 
ature," 231, 233, 235 

Japan and America," 28, 39, 42, 318 
"Japan and her People," 15, 43, 59, 

190 
"Japan and its Art," 236 
"Japan and its Regeneration," 89, 

212, 249, 276 
"Japan and its Trade," 28 
"Japan and the Japanese," 300 
" Japan as it Was and Is," 101 
"Japan Daily Advertiser," 201 
" Japan Evangelist," 276 
" Japan in History, Folk-lore, and 

Art," 59, 101, 208 
"Japan in Transition," 28, 145, 158, 

291 
"Japan Mail," 46, 131, 184, 201, 243, 

296, 312, 332, 338, 345, 366, 372, 373 
Japan Mail Steamship Company, 23, 

34, 92, 113, 114, 139 
Japan Society, London, Transactions, 

22, 50, 92 ' 
"Japan Times," 24, 130, 131, 188, 

201, 204, 324, 343, 346, 361, 366 
"Japan Tract Society," 266 
"Japanese Boy, A," 75, 221 
"Japanese Calendars," 71, 83 
"Japanese Epigrams," 208 
"Japanese Fairy Tales," 70 
"Japanese Girls and Women," 59, 

75, 189, 190, 221 
"Japanese Homes," 51, 54 
" Japanese Illustration," 235 
" Japanese Interior, A," 59, 190,221 
"Japanese Legal Seal, The," 174 
"Japanese Odes," 236 
"Japanese Plays," 68 
"Japanese Plays and Plaj'fellows," 

68 



386 



INDEX 



"Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood- 
cut Printing," 235 

"Japanese Wood Engravings," 235 

Java, 45 

Javanese, 45 

Jevons's "Money," 206 

Ji sect, 254 

Jiinmu Tenno, Emperor, 63, 90, 93, 
95, 121 

"Jingles from Japan," 83 

Jingoro, Hidari, 228 

Jiugu, Empress, 90, 95, 96 

Jinrikisha, 31, 32, 281 

"Jinrikisha Days in Japan," 15,20, 
43, 56, 123, 236 

Jinrikisha men, 32, 203 

Jodo sect, 253, 255 

Journalism, 200-202 

Judges, 163-165 

Julian, 248 

Jumin, see Resident 

Justice, 160 



Kaga ware, 229 

Kagi, F^ormosa, 374 

Kago, 30 

Kagoshima, 32, 107, 108 

"Kaigai Shimbun," 200 

Kajima, 186 

Kunazawa, 215 

Kaneko, Baron, 120, 139 

Kaniu, Prince, 278 

Kansas City, 37 

Karuizawa, 8 

Kataoka, Mr., 274 

Kato, Baron, 364 

Kawamura, Count, 123 

Kawaraura, Countess, 123 

Kawasaki, 317 

Kegon waterfall, 9 

Keiki, Shogun, 108, 109 

Keio-gijiku, 215 

Kelung, Formosa, 374, 375 

Kenkwai, 135-138 

Kenzan ware, 228 

" Keramic Art of Japan," 235 

Keramic wares, 228 



Kii, 9 

Kimotsuki, Admiral, 291 
Kindergartens, 210, 213, 214, 269, 

365 
Kingsley Hall, 28 
"Kinse Sliiriaku," 117 
Kipling, Rudyard, 204 
Kirby, E. C, 317 
Kiso river, 9 
Kitakami river, 9 
Kitasato, Dr., 10, 220 
Kites, 66 
Kiyomori, 98 
Knapp, A. M., 59, 89, 101, 132, 208, 

249 
Knight, 283 
Knox, G. W., 261 
Kobe, 2, 9, 33, 110, 201, 317, 326 
" Kobe Herald," 369 
Koch, Dr., 220 
Kodama, Baron, 220 
Koike, Mayor, 343 
Kojiki, 241 
Kojimachi Ku, 139 
Kokaku, Emperor, 278 
Komagatake, 8 
Komatsu II., Emperor, 99 
Komei, Emperor, 64, 108, 109, 122 
Komin, see Citizen 
Korea, 4, 7, 34, 90, 91, 95, 96, 99, 111, 

154, 157, 224, 237, 252, 255, 292, 

294, 299 ; Japanese influence in, 

294 
Korean, 95 
Koreans, 85 
Koriusai, 227 
Kublai Khan, 98 
Kuchinotsu, 9 
Kumamoto, 32, 149, 215 
Kure, 150, 317 
Kurihama, 102 

Kuril e Islands, 5, 6, 12, 44, 105, 111 
Kuro Shio (Black Stream), 11 
Kurozumi-kyo, 259 
Kusatsu, 8 
Kusunoki, 91, 98 

Kvonaga, , 227 

Kyoto, 19, 91, 97, 109, 215, 230, 278, 

280, 282, 326 
Kyoto ware, 229 



INDEX 



387 



Kyowa era, 277 

Kyushiu, 5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 42, 45, 



Labor unions, see Guilds, Trade 
unions 

" Labor World," 28 

Lacquer trees, 12 

Lacquer work, 24 

Lacquering, 230-231 

Ladd, George T., 87 

"Ladoga " (American), 105 

La Farge, Jobn, 236 

Lamps, 298 

Land, arable, 312, 313 ; foreign owner- 
ship of, 170, 171 

" Land of the Morning," 109 

Landscape-gardening, 54, 234 

" Landscape-Garde ning in Japan," 54, 
236 

Language, 191-198, 206, 207, 232 

Lanman, Chas., 117 

Latin, 211, 285 

Latitude, 5 

"Lawrence" (American), 105 

Laws, 96 

Lay, A. H., 132, 338, 342 

Lead, 23 

Legal Japan, 159-174 

Leroy-Beaulieu, A., 28, 158 

Lespedeza, 371 

Lewis, R.E., 221 

Library, Imperial, 203, 220 

Library, Max Miiller, 220 

"Life of Sir Harr\' Parkas," 303 

Light-houses, 91, 110 

Ligneul, L'Abbe, 367 

Literary class, 48, 49 

Literature, 70, 100, 198, 200-208 

Lithography, 227 

Living expenses, 26, 27, 320-322 

Lizards, 13 

Lloyd, Prof., 259, 261 

Local self-government, 113, 114, 116; 

120, 133-145 
Locomotives, 37 
London, 224, 317 



Lonholm, Dr., 161 

Longford, J. H., 174 

Loo Choo (Rjiikyu) Islands, 5, 12, 34, 

92, 105, 113 
Loquats, 19, 313 
Loti, Pierre, 77 

" Lotos-Time in Japan," 15, 59, 89 
Lotus, 65, 372 
Lotze, R. H., 87 
Louisiana, 5 
Lowell, Percival, 26, 43, 50, 75, 89, 

195, 223, 239, 249, 257 
Loyalty, 87 

Lucky and unlucky days, 71-75 
Lumber, 24 
Lunar calendar, 64 
Lutherans, 264 



M 

MacCauley, Clay, 199 

McClatchie, , 68 

McDonald, Roland, 105, 106 

Mackay, Dr., 276 

Maclay,A.C.,75 

Magazines, 202, 285 

" Magna Charta of Japanese liberty," 

see Constitution 
Maize, 19 
Maizuru, 150 

" Maker of the New Orient, A," 276 
Malay customs, 46 
Malays, 45, 46, 95 
Manchoo Court, 301 
Manchuria, China, 30, 295 
Manila, 35 

Manners, see Customs 
Manufacturing plants, 286 
" Manyoshiu," 369 
Maple, 65, 370, 371, 372 
Marcus Island, 6 
"Mariner" (British), 105 
Marriage, 61, 62, 179, 180 
Masamune, 230 
Mason, W. B., 15 
Masujima, Dr., 169, 170, 174 
Match industry, 24 
Matches, 37, 298 
Matsukata, Count, 128 



388 



INDEX 



Matsumai, Yezo, 105 

" Matthew Calbraith Perry," 117 

Matting, 37 

" Mayors of the Palace," 98, 278 

Mechanics, 283 ; wages of, 26 

Megata, Mr., 313 

Meiji era, 91, 277 

Melons, 19 

Memorial Day, 65 

Men-of-war, American, 23 

Mercantile marine, 346 

"Mercator" (American), 105 

Merchants, 48, 82, 283 

Meredith, George, 204 

Merovingians, Japanese, 98 

Metal work, 24 

Metal-workers, 229-230 

Meteorological table, 308 

Methodist Publishing House, 266, 

276 
Methodists, 264, 272, 366, 367 
Michi, Prince, 123 
Migrations, 95 
"Mikado's Empire, The," 43, 66, 71, 

206 
Military class, 48 
Mill, John Stuart, 342 

Miller, , a criminal, 165 

Millet, 19, 55 

Milne, Professor, 8 

Minamoto, 98 

Mining, 23, 294 

Minko, 228 

Minnesota, 5 

Mint, 39, 91, 110,111 

Miochin family, 230 

Mission of Japan, 289-304 

Mission schools, 211, 219 

Missionaries, 107, 173, 218, 245, 263- 

265, 267, 272, 287 
Missionary Conference, First, 110 
Missionary Conference at Osaka, 92, 

113 
Missionary Conference at Tokyo, 92, 

115 
Missionary Conference at Yokohama, 

91, 110 ' 
Missionary work, 157, 177 
Mississippi valley, 5 
Mitake, 8 



Mitford, A. B. F., 70, 75 

Mito, 54, 60, 67, 280 

Mito clan, 100 

Mito, Prince of, 149, 286 

"Mito Yashiki," 75 

Mitsu Bishi Company, 23 

Mitsui Bank, 332 

Miwa, 228 

"Miyako-Dori," 236 

Miyanoshita, 8 

" Modern Japanese Legal Institu- 
tions," 174 

Moji, 9, 32, 187 

" Moji no Shirube," 208 

Money in circulation, 329 

Money, Table of, 309-311 

Mongolians, 45 

Monkey, 13 

Mormons, 265 

Morning-glory, 65, 372 

Morse, E. S., 51, 54, 235 

Morris, , 15, 28, 117, 132, 158, 

208 

Morrison, , 235 

" Morrison " Expedition, 105 

"Moscow Gazette," 368 

Mosquitoes, 10 

Mossman, , 117 

Mother-in-law, 176 

Mott, John R., 270 

Mounsey, , 117 

Mourning, 62 

Mousseline, 37 

Mulberrj' trees, 19 

Munichika, 230 

Munsinger, , 85 

Muramasa, 230 

Murata rifle, 149 

Muroran, 9, 150 

Murrav, David, 15, 59, 94, 97, 101, 
132," 263 

"Murray's Hand-Book," 12, 15 

Music, 68, 69, 231, 232 

" Music and Musical Instruments of 
Japan, The," 236 

Mutsuhito, Emperor, 108-110, 118, 121, 
122, 279 

Mythology, 90, 92-95; and history, 
outline,' 90-92 



INDEX 



389 



N 



Nachi waterfall, 9 

Nagasaki, 9, 23, 32, 104-107, 201, 281, 

317, 367, 368 
Nagoya, 21, 148, 230, 326 
Naraikawa, 230 
Nanjo, 253 
Nankaido, 6 

"Napoleon of Japan," see Hideyoshi 
Nara, 97, 228 
Nara epoch, 90, 97 
"Narrative of a Japanese," 200 
Naruse, Jinzo, 187, 188, 364 
"Nation, The," 132, 134, 145 
National Assembly, 120 
National development, 328, 329 
National exhibition in Tokyo, 111 
National song, 369, 370 
Nature-worship, 45, 79 
Naval increment, 345, 346 
Navy, 126, 147-152 
Nelson, Lord, 151 
Nemoto, Mr., 274 
"New Far East, The," 39, 117, 145, 

151, 158 
New Year's Day, 61, 64, 65, 75 
New York City, 247, 296 
New York State Bar Association, 170 
Newspaper, first, 91, 110, 111 
Newspapers, 200-202, 257, 266, 273, 

285 ; see also specific names 
Nichiren, a priest, 255, 256 
Nichiren sect, 253, 255 
Nickel coin, see Coins 
Nicolai, Bishop, 263 
Nietsche's " Zarathustra," 204 
Nightingale, 13 
Niigata, 9, 110 
Nikko, 8, 9, 185, 228 
Ninigi, 90 
Ninsei ware, 228 
Nippon Electric Company, 38 
Nippon Yusen Kwaisha, see Japan 

Mail Steamship Company 
"Nisshin Shinjishi," 200 
Nitobe, Dr., 45, 89, 117, 239, 252, 261 
Nitta, 91, 98 
Niuchwang, 295 
No dances, 228, 233 



Nobility, new orders of, 92, 113, 114 
Nobles'' School, 123, 211 
Nobunaga, 99 

Nobunaga, persecutor of Buddhists, 91 
Norimono, see Sedan-chair 
Normal schools, 211, 216, 362 
Norman, Henry, 56, 57, 69, 152, 158, 

174, 202 
" Notes on Shippo," 235 
"Noto, an Unexplored Corner of 

Japan," 43 
Nunobiki waterfall, 9 
Nuts, 55 
Nuttall's " Standard Dictionary," 205 



Oak trees, 12 

Oatmeal, 37 

Occidentalization, 69 

" Occult Japan," 249 

Ocean currents, 11, 14 

Officials, 26, 48 

Ohashi, Mr., 220 

Oil, 22, 36, 37, 41, 42 

Oil industry, 326-327 

Ojin, see Hachiman 

Okakura, Kakasu, 224, 235 

Okayama, 215 

Okuma, Count, 119, 130, 154, 215, 218, 

343, 364 
Olcott, Colonel, 253 
Omaha, 37 
Omnibus, 31, 34 
Onions, 19 
Onohama, 317 
Onsen, 8 
Ooka, 159 
Opium, 144, 170 
Oranges, 19, 313, 314 
Orchestras, 67-69 
Oregon, 14, 106 

Oriental Steamship Company, 35 
'^Ornamental Arts of Japan," 235 
Osaka, 9, 21, 39, 92, 110, 148, 149, 186, 

317, 326, 364, 368 
^Osaka Asahi Shimbun," 202 
Osaka Exhibition, 24, 318-320 
Osaka Gas Company, 36 
" Osaka Mainichi Shimbun," 202 



390 



INDEX 



Osaka Merchant Steamship Company, 
^ 34, 295 

Osaka Missionary Conference, Pro- 
_ ceedings, 276 _ 

Osaka Sh5sen Kwaisha, see Osaka 

Merchant Marine Company 
Oshu, 45 
Ota ware, 229 
" Othello," 68 
"Out of the Far East," 190 
Outcast, 283 
Outcasts admitted to citizenship, 91, 

110, 112 
" Outline of the History of Ukiyo-ye, 

An," 235 
Owari, 229 
Owari ware, 229 
Ox-carts, 31 
Oxen, 13, 29, 31 
Oj'ama, Marquis, 150 



Pacific Ocean, 1-3, 6, 14, 299, 301 

Pack-horses, 29, 31 

"Painters of Japan, The," 235 

Painting, 225-227 

Paintings, Japanese, collections in 

America, 225 
Palanquin, 30 
Pantomime, 68 
Paper-making, 24 
Paper-mills, 286 
Paper money, 39 
"Paradise o'f the East," 290 
Parchesi, 66 

"Party Cabinet," first, 115 
Paulownia, 371 

"Peace Preservation Act," 113, 114 
Peach blossoms, 372 
Peach trees, 13 
Peaches, 19, 313, 314 
Peanuts, 19 
Pears, 19, 313, 314 
Peas, 19, 37 

Peeresses' School, 188. 211 
Peery,E.B.,15, 89, 249, 276 
Peking, 115, 296, 297, 301 



Penal Code, see Code, Penal 

People, 44-59 ; see also Characteristics 

of the people 
Perry, Commodore, 102, 103, 105-107, 

116 
Perry's Expedition, 91, 117 
Persimmons, 19, 313 
Pescadores Islands, 5, 375 
Petroleum, 37 
"Phaethon " (British), 104 
Philippine Islands, 3, 14, 15, 291, 299 
Phillips, — 205 
Phoenicia, 300 

Physiographical advantages, 291 
Physiography, 1-15 
Pickles, 37 

Pickpockets' guild, 27 
" Pictorial Arts of Japan, The," 235 

Piggott, , 22, 236 

Pine, 371, 372 

Pine trees, 12 

Pisciculture, 24 

Plague, 10, 375 

Plasterers' guild, 27 

Plum blossoms, 65, 79, 370, 371, 372 

Plum trees, 13 

Plums, 19, 313, 314 

Poetry, 192, 198-200, 225, 226, 231, 

232, 369 
Policemen, 162, 163 
"Political and Commercial Reasons 

for the Study of Chinese," 296 
Political parties, 113, 114, 130, 338-343 
"Political Science Quarterlj'," 145 
Pomegranate, 313 
Population, 7, 328 
Porcelain, 24, 37 
Pork, 54 

Portland, Oregon, 2 
Ports, opening of, 91 
Portuguese, 20, 91, 99 
Postage, letter, 35, 36 
Postal cards, 35 
Postal savings 35, 324-326 
Postal system, Japanese, 31, 35, 91, 

110, 111; United States, 35 
Potatoes, 19 ; sweet, 26 
Pottery, 24, 228, 229 
" Pottery, Father of," see Shirozaemon 
Poultry, 24 



INDEX 



391 



"Powers, Great," 146 

"Practical Introduction to the Study 

of Japanese Writing," 208 
"Preble" (United States), 105 
Prefectural assemblies, 92, 111-114 
Prehistoric period, 90 
Presbyterians, 264, 272, 366, 367 
Presents, 60 

Press, freedom of the, 92, 115, 116, 201 
Printers' union, 27 
Prison officials, school for, 168 
Prison system, 165, 166 
Privy council, 92, 113, 124 
Professional schools, 218 
Prophecy, 288 
Proverb, a Japanese, 46 
Provinces and Prefectures, 307, 309 
Prussian system, 141 



Radicals, dissatisfaction of, 113, 114 

Radish, 19 

Railroad fare, 33 

Railroad, first, 91, 110 

Railroads, 31-33,282, 294, 322-324, 329 

Railway carriages, 37 

Railway engineers' union, 27 

Railway workmen's union, 27 

Railways, see Railroads 

Rainy seasons, 11 

Ransome, Stafford, 28, 145, 158, 291 

Rathgen, Dr. Karl, 17 

Rats, 10, 13 

"Real Japan, The," 56, 57, 69, 152, 

158, 174, 190, 202 
Red Cross Society, 188, 269, 270, 280 
Reform school, 168 
Registration, system of, 168, 169 
Rein, J. J., 15, 22, 28, 46, 59, 75, 85, 

89, 208, 231, 235, 249 
Religion, 172, 173, 237, 239, 242 
Religions, Bureau of, 243 
"Religions of Japan, The," 242, 249, 

257, 276 
Remmon-kj'o, 259 
Remsen, Ira, 205 
Resanoff, 104 
" Rescue homes," 168 



Resident (jumin), 138, 139 

Resources, 41, 42 

Restoration, 108, 110, 118, 144, 210, 242 

Revolutionarj-- war, 91 

Rice, 18, 19, 26, 37, 54-56, 169, 313 

Richardson affair, 91, 107, 108 

Rities, 85 

Ritter, , 276 

Roman Catholic, 264, 366-368 

Roses, War of the, 99 

Row-boats, 31 

Rowing, 66 

Russia, 4, 14, 36, 145, 263, 285, 294, 

295; and Japan, 299,300 
Russian aggressions, 155, 157 
Russian Church, 368 
Russian epidemic, 10 
Russian language, 285 
Ryiiky a Islands, see Loo Choo Islands 



S 



Sada, Princess, 123, 188, 211 
Saga rebellion, 91, 111 
Saghalien traded off for Kurile Isl- 
ands, 111 
Saikaido, 6 
Saionji, Marquis, 364 
Bake, 24, 55 
Salisburia, see Ginko 
Salt, 23 

Salvation Army, 168, 264, 271 
Samurai, see Knight 
San Diego, 2, 3 
San Francisco, 2, 3, 35, 37 
Sanindo, 6 
Sanskrit, 211, 285 
Sanyo Railway Company, 33 
Sanyodo, 6 
Sapporo, 149 

Sapporo Agricultural College, 216 
"Saramang" (British), 105 
Sasebo, 150 
Satin, 37 

Satow, Sir Ernest, 22, 117, 241, 249 
Satsuma, Prince of, 108 
Satsuma rebellion, 91, 111 
Satsuma ware, 229 
Sawyers' guilds, 27 



392 



INDEX 



Saxons, 93 

Scandinavian Alliance, 264 

Schools, 210-212, 214-218; statistics, 
361-363 ; see also Academy of Music, 
Fine Arts School, Foreign Language 
School, Kindergartens, Mission, 
Nobles', Normal, Peeresses', Pro- 
fessional, and Technical schools, 
Sapporo Agricultural College, Uni- 
versity for Women, and University, 
Imperial 

Schopenhauer, Arthur, 204 

Scidmore, Miss E. R., 15, 20, 43, 56, 
75, 123, 236 

"Scribner's Monthly," 87, 132 

Scripture Union, 271 

Sculptors, 228 

Seattle, Washington, 2, 35, 317 

Seaweed, 55 

Sedan-chair, 30 

Seidlitz, 235 

Seif u ware, 228 

Sei-i-Tai-Shogun, 98 

" Seiyo Kibun," 210 

Sekigahara, 91, 100 

Sen Katayama, 28 

Senate, 91, 111, 119 

Sendai, 148, 215 

Seto ware, 229 

Setonouchi, see Inland Sea 

Setouchi, see Inland Sea 

"Seven grasses," 372 

Seventh-Day Adventists, 264 

" Shakai Zasshi," 18 

Shanghai, China, 298, 317 

Sheep, 13 

Shibusawa, Baron, 39, 82 

Sliigemi, 75, 221 

Shikoku, 5, 10, 12 

Siiimada, Mr., 274 

Shimoda, 107 

Shimonoseki, 32, 91, 107, 108 

Shimonoseki, Straits of, 10, 32, 108 

Shin sect, 253, 255, 256 

Shinano river, 9 

Shinchiku, Formosa, 374 

Shingon sect, 253, 254 

" ShinshiH," 255 

Shinto, 48, 50, 62, 68, 94, 177, 224, 
237-249, 250, 251, 254, 259, 260, 288 



Shinto periodicals, 203 

Shinto shrines, 166, 240, 243, 244 

Shinto temples, 65, 238 

Shinyeisho, Formosa, 374 

Ship-building, 23, 24, 316-318 

Ship-carpenters' union, 27 

Shirane, 8 

Shirozaemon, 229 

Shizuoka, 280 

Shogunate, abolition of, 91 

Shogunate, first, 91 

Shopkeepers, 25 

Shopper's paradise, 25, 26 

Shops, 25 

Shotoku Taishi, 90, 96 

Shrines, Bureau of, 243 

Shrines, Shinto, see Shinto shrines 

Shunsho, 227 

Siam, 4, 299 ; and Japan, 298, 372-373 

Siamese, Crown Prince, 298 

Siberia, 4, 14, 34 

Siberia railway, 291 

Silk, 17, 20, 21, 37, 41 

Silkworms, 20 

Silver, 23, 41, 42 

Silver pieces, see Coins 

Simmons, Dr., 133 

Singapore, 317 

Sin-tek, Formosa, 375 

" Sketches of Tokyo Life," 74 

Sleeping-cars, 33 

Smallpox, 10, 220, 375 

Smelt-fishing, 22 

Smoking, 20 

Snakes, 13 

Soap, 37 

Social evil, 166, 167 

Social settlement, 28 

Socialism, 28 

Society, classes of, 48-49, 282, 283 

Soldiers, 30, 82, 283 

" Solomon, Japanese," see Ooka 

Soma ware, 229 

" Soul of the Far East," 26, 50, 89, 

195, 239, 249 
Soups, 55 

South Pacific Islands, 45 
Soy, 24, 55 
Spanish, 285 
Spencer, D. S., 366 



INDEX 



Spencer, Herbert, 206 

Spokane Falls, Washington, 37 

Spring, Japanese, 12 

Springs, hot, mineral, 8, 59 

Stage, 31, 34, 281 

"Standard, The," Chicago, 237 

Standard Oil Company, 36 

Star Vega, Festival of the, 64, 65 

Steamboats, 31, 281 

Steam-car, 281 

Steamers, 37 

Steamship companies, 34 

Steamship lines, 2 

Steamships, 286 

Steel, 37 

Stevenson, R. L., 204 

Stoicism, 81 

Stonemasons' guild, 27 

Stores, retail, see Shops 

"Story of Japan, The," 15, 59, 94, 

132, 263 

Strange, , 235 

Strawberries, 19 

Street-car conductors, wages, 26 

Street-car drivers, wages, 26 

Students' Standard Dictionary, 205 

Sugar-raising, 24 

Sugawara, 91 

Suiko, Empress, 96 

"Sujin, the Civilizer," 90, 95 

Sulphur, 23 

Sumac tree, 230 

" Summary of Japanese Penal Codes," 

174 
Summer, Japanese, 12 
Sundaj'-school picnics, 66 
Sun-goddess, 90, 95, 248, 259 
"Sunrise Kingdom, The," 5 
Superiors, obedience to, 49, 50 
Superstitions, 70-75 
" Superstitious Japan," 73 
Suvematsu, Baron, 120 
Swords, 24, 48, 230' 



Tacoma, Washington, 2 
Taggart's " Cotton Spinning," 205 
Taihoku, Formosa, 314 



Taikwa Reformation, 332 

Tainan-fu, Formosa, 304 

Taine's " English Literature," 206 

Taira, 98 

Taira supremacj"-, 91 

"Taiyo," 291,293, 330 

Takahashi, K., 290 

Take-no-uchi, 90, 96 

Takow, Formosa, 374, 375 

"Tales of Old Japan," 70, 75 

Tamsui, Formosa, 374 

Tamura, N., 61 

Tanners, 48 

Tariff, 92, 108, 115, 116, 170 

Tartar armada, 91 

Tartars, 98 

Tax, land, 18, 49, 139, 169; busi- 
ness, 169; house, 169, 170; income, 
169 

Taxation, 49, 142, 150,169; nobility 
exempt from, 48 

Tea, 19, 26, 37, 41, 55 

Tea-ceremonial, 99, 233 

Tea-drinking, 20 

Teachers' Institutes, 219, 220 

Technical schools, 211, 216, 362 

Telegraph, 31, 53, 91, 110, 282, 294, 
329, 375 

Telephone, 31, 33, 34, 282, 375 

Temperament, 87-89 

Tempo era, 332 

Tendai sect, 253, 254 

Tennis, 66 

Tennyson, Alfred, 204 

Tenrikyo, 259 

Tenryu-gawa river, 9 

Terry, Prof., 161 

Theatre, 66-68 

Thibet, 301 

"Things Japanese," 161, 199, 256 

"30th year" (of Meiji) rifle, 149 

Thomson, Elihu, 205 

Tidal wave, 115 

" Tidings from Japan," 366 

" Time, Land of Approximate," 83 

Tin, 23 

Tobacco, 17, 19, 20 ; sale of, to minors, 
prohibited, 271 

Tokaido, 6 

Tokugawa Dynasty, 100, 110, 280 



394 



INDEX 



Tokugawa feudalism, period of, 91, 
100, 101 

Tokuno, 235 

Tokyo, 21, 26, 28, 31, 33-37, 39, 47, 
91, 92, 110, 111, 114, 139, 148, 149, 
166, 168, 186, 201, 215-217, 220, 
230, 270, 276, 280, 282, 285, 286, 
322, 323, 326, 332, 364, 368, 372. 

TokyB Missionary Conference, Pro- 
ceedings, 276 

Toledo, 230 

Tolstoi, Leo, 204 

Tomeoka, 168 

Tomotada, 228 

Tone river, 9 

Tops, 66 

Tosando, 6 

Toyo Kisen Kwaisha, see Oriental 
Steamship Company 

Toyokuni, 227 

Trade unions, 27, 28 

Traits, Japanese, see Characteristics 
of the people 

Transportation, 29-43 

Travel, 29-43, 281 

Treaties, new, 92 ; with foreign na- 
tions, 91 

Treaty of commerce and navigation 
between Japan and the United 
States, 347-361 

Treaty-Making, Period of, see History 
(New Japan), II 

Tree peony, 371 

Trees, see names of trees 

Trials, 164 

Troup, Jas., 255 

Trusteeship, system of, 41 

Tsukiji Type Foundry, Tokyo, 285, 286 

Turnips, 19 

"Twain, Mark," 204 

Twentieth Century Japan, 267, 277-288 

Typhoons, 10, 11,' 88 



u 

Uchimura, 265, 300 
Uhlhorn, Gerhard, 275 
Uji, 19 
Ukita, K., 293 



Ume Tsuda, Miss, 186 

United States, 2, 3, 7, 14, 36, 37, 85, 

157, 186, 200, 291, 293, 299, 364 
United States, President of the, 102, 

106 
United States and Japan, Treaty be- 
tween, see Treaty of commerce and 

navigation 
Universalists, 264 

University, Imperial, 23, 91, 165, 166 
University, Imperial, at Kyoto, 211, 

215 
University, Imperial, at Tokyo, 110, 

210, 215, 216 
University for Women, 186, 188, 211, 

363-365 
Uraga, 102, 106, 317 
Uraga dockyard, 23 
Urami waterfall, 9 
Utamaro, 227 
Utsumi, Baron, 364 
Uyeno, 343 



Vaccination, 375 . 

Vancouver, 2 

" Various impressions, " 45 

Vegetables, see names of vegetables 

Vehicles, 30 

" Verbeck of Japan," 117, 276 

Vergil, 304 

Vessels, 329 

Vladivostock, 33 

Volcanoes, 8 

Von Siebold, Dr., 105 



w 

Wado era, 332 

Wages and incomes, 26, 27 

Wages of workmen, 21, 322 

Wakayama, 17 

Walker's " Political Economy,' 

Warships, 150, 151 

Waseda, 215 

Washington, 14, 157 

Watanabe, Viscount, 43 

Wealth of Japan, 331, 332 



INDEX 



395 



Weasels, 13 

Weaving, 24 

Webster's " Condensed Dictionary," 
205 

Webster's " Unabridged," 205 

Weddings, see Marriage 

"Wee Ones of Japan, The," 60, 75, 
221 

Weight and Measure, Table of, 309- 
312 

Weights, comparative, of Japanese 
and European men, 47 

Weihaiwei, Battle of, 150 

Wheat, 19 ; cracked, 37 

Whistler, J. A. M., 223 

Wigmore, Prof., 132-134, 145, 159, 160 

William II. of Holland, 105 

Willow, 371 

Wine, 56 

Winter, Japanese, 12 

Wistaria, 65, 371, 372 

Witnesses, 164 

Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union, 168, 264, 270, 271 

Women, 175-190, 286; Japanese and 
American contrasted, 81; legal po- 
sition of, 178-182; education of, 
183, 185, 186, 188, 363-365; employ- 
ment for, 183, 188, 270 

Wool, 37 

Woollen mills, 286 

Wrestlers' guild, 27 

Wrestling, 66 

Writing, art of, introduced, 92-96 

Wuchang, China, 297 



Xavier, Francis, 91, 99, 



Yalu, Battle of, 150 
Yamada, 117, 158, 283 
Tamagata, Marquis, 150 
Yamaguchi, 215 
Yamath, see Hamath 
Yamato, see Hamath 
Yamato-Dake, Prince, 90, 95 
Yangtze Kiang river, 14, 295 
"Yankees of the East, The," 28, 43, 

56, 66, 123, 132, 174, 190 
Year Periods, 332-335 
Yedo (now Tokyo), 91, 100, 106, 110, 

280, 282 
Yedo Bay. 102, 104, 105 
Yezo, 5,' 9, 12, 16, 32, 44, 104, 106, 

110, 162; see also Hokkaido 
Yokohama, 2, 3, 9, 14, 28, 91, 107, 

165, 166, 201, 322, 323, 326 
Yokohama Athletic Association, 66 
Yokohama Specie Bank, 38, 170 
Yokosuka, 150 
Yoritomo, 91, 98 
Yoshitsune, 91, 98 
Young Men's Buddhist Association, 

256 
Young Men's Christian Association, 

256, 264, 270 
Young People's Society Christian En- 
deavor, 265, 271 
Young Women's Christian Associa- 

tion, 270 
Yuzu Nembutsu sect, 254 



Zen sect, 253-255 
Zola, tmile, 204 



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